The on-going drought is taking its’ toll on Florida, especially Lake Okeechobee. But Water Management officials say there is a silver lining in this dark cloud.

The water level in Lake Okeechobee is at an all time low due to the drought. Areas that are normally three or four feet below water are now bone dry. South Florida Water Management District officials are taking advantage of this. Water managers along with the Environmental Protection Agency, are removing muck. That’s nutrient rich soil that has settled on the lake bed with disastrous consequences. It kills fish and underwater vegetation. There are six sites around the lake where workers are removing muck before the water levels come back up. Spokesman Randy Smith says the process shouldn’t take too long to finish.

“It’s a massive project but it goes relatively fast with the heavy equipment. We think a couple of months of work and we will complete this phase of restoring the lake bottom to its’ natural state."

Michael Shellen is a resident of the lakeside town of Buckhead and fisherman. He says this is a great project that will help the area.

“When they’re done the water will come back up…the natural plants that are supposed to be growing in this lake will come back…the fish will come back…the fishing is still terrific in this lake."

This phase of the clean up will pick up more than 500-thousand cubic yards of muck…enough to fill Joe Robby stadium. The cost is around eleven million dollars.

WGCU news continues today highlighting Florida Gulf Coast University students who are also recent veterans. Their stories are told by recent FGCU graduate Andrea Voss. In her second report, Voss profiles U.S. Army sergeant Tony Mercurio.

The Florida Department of Education announced today that independent auditors will be re-scoring the entire batch of 2006 3rd grade reading tests.

Department Commissioner Jeanine Blomberg says an internal investigation found what looks like a problem with the test, and that 3rd graders in ’06 may have had it easier than their predecessors. And because of that, the entire batch will face an audit - and be rescored.

“It isn’t related to the scoring of the test, it’s an equating issue. I just want to assure you that this was not intentional or deliberate.”

Blomberg says they’re still trying to get a handle on exactly what went wrong and that more details will be available later this week.

The just-released 2007 scores will not face an audit…but Blomberg says all future FCAT tests on all levels will be audited from now on.

And she says while the intention isn’t to cause grief to anyone, the re-scoring could have an impact on the letter grades school’s received last year.

For a complete look at the reading, math and science scores released Wednesday click here.

Southwest Florida’s housing market is in a slump – but recovery is just around the corner. That’s according to housing analyst Mike Timmerman who spoke to members of the Urban Land Institute Wednesday in Estero.

Mike Timmerman of Hanley Wood Market Intelligence told a group of about 100 realtors, builders and others the housing market moves in 36 month cycles – and the region is now in the 20th month of a downward trend. He says housing has taken a hit in Southwest Florida because of the large proportion of second homes and investment properties.

“where there’s employment based housing need, Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville – the area’s where the housing is there for workers – those areas haven’t done as poorly as markets which are second home investors places...pricing didn’t increase as much so we didn’t have as many investors and speculators therefore they didn’t get as far ahead of the game as we did in Southwest Florida.”

Overbuilding in Southwest Florida has led to oversupply and Timmerman says right now builders are unloading units at or below cost. But he says it’s a buyers market right now - for those who can afford the taxes and insurance that comes with being a home owner. He’s hopeful state lawmakers will legislate a cure for those high costs in the upcoming special session. As for the over-abundance of housing stock, Timmerman says in-migration will eventually take up the slack.

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Southwest Florida’s housing slump is only temporary. That’s according to Housing analyst Mike Timmerman who spoke to members of the Urban Land Institute Wednesday in Estero. Timmerman told the group’s members that ups and downs are part of the housing cycle, but in the end, the region’s building industry and housing market are poised to do well.

“we had a huge amount of speculation that occurred – but from an overall standpoint the demographics are very good for sw Florida, we’re expecting a huge amount of in migration because of the quality of life – so obviously the long run for sw is very good – you do have blips and that’s what this part is – a blip in the market place.”

Timmerman says the biggest challenges in the housing market right now are in selling existing homes – some are overpriced and have been on the market too long. He says high property taxes and the high cost of insurance are also turning some potential homeowners into renters instead.

WGCU News is highlighting three Florida Gulf Coast University students who are also recent veterans. Their stories are being told by recent FGCU graduate Andrea Voss. In this first report, she profiles U.S. Marine Corporal Tyrone Martin. He’s also a recent graduate hoping to get into law school, while facing the potential to be called up again for service.

For a complete look at the reading, math and science scores released Wednesday click here.

Governor Charlie Crist signed a bill recently that will establish a paper trail for all votes cast in Florida elections. The legislation will provide optical scan machines for counties that do not already have them, appropriating nearly 28 million dollars to buy the equipment. Touch-screen machines will still be used to comply with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. State Representative Dave Aronberg, whose district includes parts of Southwest Florida, says it’s a first step in election reform, not the last.
“We didn’t have any confidence in our voting system. This started back in 2000, we tried to fix things by installing these electronic machines but then we found out the electronic machines were not perfect and there was no paper trail to make sure there was a backup. I just hope we can reduce the chance the of fraud to where it does not impact any elections but don’t think that we’re ever going to get rid of the possibility of it.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida applauded the law as an initial step toward comprehensive voting reform. It says in a release that the pattern of under votes – especially the 18,300 unrecorded votes in the 2006 Congressional election in Sarasota – and the inability of voting machines to allow for a recount, led to the change.

The 2007 Hurricane Season is just around the corner. But state emergency officials don’t want residents to worry about how many storms may hit.

Forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration say 2007 could be another busy hurricane season. They predict 13-to-17 named storms with seven to ten of those becoming hurricanes. And they forecast three to five of those could become major hurricanes. But spokesman for the Florida Division of Emergency Management Mike Stone says even with all these numbers and the numerous other storm predictions being made, people should only prepare and worry about one storm at time.

“What we want Florida residents to understand is that they need to be prepared for the next storm. You hear a lot about historical activity, they put a lot of weight on the numbers. Well I’d like to remind folks that back in 92 there was a storm called Andrew that didn’t crop up until late August.”

Stone says people need to come up with a plan now for any oncoming storm. And people can take advantage of the upcoming sales tax holiday on hurricane supplies. The holiday runs from June first through the 12th.

Salvation Army chapters around the country recently marked National Salvation Army Week. The focus in Lee County was on the Army's ongoing efforts to provide hope and care to communities in need. WGCU's Christine Buckley spent some time at a unique Bonita Springs site and filed this report.

More than 150 breeds of dogs were represented this weekend at the Greater Ft. Myers Dog Club's Annual Spring Show. They were accompanied by about 1200 owners and exhibitors. WGCU’s Valerie Alker was part of a crowd of about five hundred admirers, and has this report.