Collier County Elections Supervisor Jennifer Edwards helped launch the 2006 ‘Get Out the Vote’ effort in advance of this fall’s elections. Heated contests include races for governor, U-S Senate, attorney general and other state positions on the ballot. A thousand people move to Florida each day and Collier election educator Cyndi Young says the rules are different in other states. In Florida, for instance, you must register 29 days before election day.

“In some states they may have same-day registration or you can register a week in advance. But that’s just one difference here in Florida with our book closings and requirements.”

State Senator Burt Saunders of Republican of Naples made it officials today – he’s campaigning to be Florida’s next Attorney General. WGCU’s Valerie Alker reports.

The Florida Legislative session begins next month. One bill lawmakers will debate would create a stem cell research institute at Florida Gulf University.

The bill, filed by Senate Democrat Dave Aronberg, would establish the FGCU Institute for Stem Biology. Research would focus on adult stem cells, skirting religious and ethical issues associated with embryonic stem cells. FGCU’s director of Biotechnology, Dr. Randall Alberte, says the school has state of the art research facilities and faculty that can lead the way in establishing a niche in this emerging field.

“It turns out that when you harvest adult stem cells, they’re from cord blood cells or bone marrow, less than 10 percent is stem cells and some of the opportunity to select and harvest that community is an opportunity that is not been achieved today and we believe we can exploit some new and emerging molecular recognition tools that will allow you to grab those cells out of a mixed population and identify them.”

Alberte says FGCU would also partner with other institutions both in the private and public sectors. Senator Aronberg’s bill earmarks 32 million dollars for the stem cell research institute. It has bi-partisan support. Its House sponsor is Republican Representative Paige Kreegal of Punta Gorda who is also a medical doctor.

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A roving Florida panther that had taken livestock from a number of residences near Ochopee and Copeland in rural Collier County in the past few weeks has been removed from the wild. WGCU’s Valerie Alker reports.

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Hundreds gathered beneath a tent in rural Collier County today for the official groundbreaking of Ave Maria University and town. It’s the first new Catholic University in the U-S in 4 decades – and the first time a town and university are being built together from the ground up.

Governor Jeb Bush joined Dominos Pizza founder, and Ave Maria benefactor – Thomas Monaghan…as well as a number of elected state and local officials for the event.

Monaghan has pledged more than 250-Million of his own dollars to make the project a reality. The university is scheduled to open in 2007 – with the first residential units up by that summer.

Governor Bush says a new university is an exciting thing – but that Ave Maria’s represents something even greater.

Bush says the Ave Maria development will preserve the natural and rural heritage of the Sunshine State.

Expected build-out is in 10 or 15 years – with about 11-thousand homes, which would be a mixture of prices and styles, including workforce housing.

The new 4-thousand-acre town will surround the campus – with a hundred foot tall Church at its center. Once complete – Ave Maria University expects to have about 6-thousand students.

Thomas Monaghan called the day one of the most important of his life. He says he hopes the university will serve as an inspiration.

Monaghan says the new school and surrounding town will be a unique combination of academic and spiritual excellence that doesn’t exist anywhere else.

Barron Collier Companies – which donated much of the land – is a 50-percent partner in the town of Ave Maria.

The Senate Energy Committee is considering legislation that would open up millions of acres in the Gulf of Mexico to drilling for oil and natural gas. Republican Florida Senator Mel Martinez was at a hearing Thursday offering a solution to protect Florida’s coastline. From Capitol Hill, Terry Gildea reports.

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