A citrus canker quarantine covering all of Pine Island and most of Cape Coral takes affect Saturday. It comes on the heels of last week’s discovery of citrus canker in the city of Ft. Myers --- for the first time ever. Valerie Alker has more. (AUDIO)

Roadways in Southwest Florida are congested – but legislative progress toward alleviating grid lock on the interstate and other major roads was made in Tallahassee this session. That’s what local business and elected officials were told at a briefing Wednesday by members of the Southwest Florida Transportation Initiative. Valerie Alker reports. (AUDIO)

Bob Vila has made a career of explaining the process of home building and renovation. This week he’s putting his experience to work in Punta Gorda Isles where a new home is being built to replace on destroyed by Hurricane Charley. Valerie Alker caught up with Vila at the construction site and prepared this report. (AUDIO)

The production crew from “Bob Vila’s Home Again” TV program will be in Punta Gorda Isles today. They’re taping on a construction site where a new poured concrete house is going up - replacing a home destroyed by Hurricane Charley. Vila has educated TV audiences about home repair for 26 years – first on the PBS series “This Old House” and now as host of “Home Again”. Vila says he tries to focus on projects that are topical and timely.

“Ever since last year when Charley hit I’ve been kind of turning the wheels on how we would do a project to show the nation what happened here and what the state and building industry is doing to make sure that the next time another charley rolls around people are better prepared and houses are more solidly built”

Builders are replacing the home of Teresa Fogolini and her husband Jim Minardi – who’ve been living in a travel trailer since Hurricane Charley. The Federal Alliance for Safe Homes – or FLASH - put the couple in touch with Vila. The program is set to air September 12th as part of a series on disaster resistance construction. “Bob Vila’s Home Again” is broadcast locally on WZVN TV – it’s also distributed on cable by TLC.

The Florida Supreme Court heard oral arguments today in Holmes v. Bush, a case challenging the constitutionality of Florida’s statewide school voucher program. Lower courts have determined it’s unconstitutional. The Florida Court of Appeals agreed it violates the “no aid” clause of the state Constitution, which states public funds cannot be used to aid sectarian institutions. State Supreme Court justices asked lawyers to explain how the state can constitutionally divert money from public to private schools under the nation's first statewide school voucher program. Funding is one of two key issues in the legal challenge over Florida's 1999 school voucher law. One is taxpayer money heading to private schools. The other is whether the law violates the separation of church and state by allowing students to use vouchers to attend religious schools. That's the choice for more than half of the 700-plus voucher students. The Florida Catholic Conference filed a brief in the case – hoping to keep the program in place. Larry Keough is legislative advocate for Florida’s Catholic schools.

“All of us will have watchful eyes on what’s happening in Tallahassee at the Florida Supreme court level. If the program were to be deemed unconstitutional we would make a serious consideration to do what we can to ensure that these children will remain in Catholic schools and receive an education.”

People For the American Way Foundation is co-counsel to the plaintiffs in the case, and joins the Florida Teaching Profession-NEA, the ACLU, the American Jewish Congress, and other organizations representing parents and taxpayers against Florida’s voucher program. Governor Jeb Bush and other voucher supporters warn many other educational and social programs could be threatened if the state’s highest court rules against the voucher law. The decision could come sometime this summer.

Right now, folks are gathering at a giant potluck dinner-in recognition of National Hunger Awareness Day. It’s taking place at the Lee County Sports Complex in Fort Myers.
The Harry Chapin Food Bank of Southwest Florida is hosting the event – called Hunger is NO Fun. The name is a play on the Fort Myers Miracle’s 2005 season theme…Fun is Good.
Associate Director of the Food Bank - Joyce Jacobs – hopes the event will raise awareness of local hunger…

“Because a lot of people don’t realize that just in our swfl area there are more than 100-thousand people living in poverty – and about a third of them are children. But across the country it’s like 13-million children that live in families suffering from hunger…you know, the United States of America is quite astounding to me.”

Organizers are handing out 5-thousand signs that say Hunger is no Fun – and during the 6th inning they’ll ask everyone to hold them up as they symbolically stand up against hunger.
Jacobs says about 90-percent of the food the food bank distributes EACH YEAR comes from outside southwest Florida… because it doesn’t have enough local support.

On a drive on through Charlotte County on I-75, the scenery is primarily pastoral – the interstate is located east of most development. But for the past 6 months there’s been a glaring exception. On the south side of the Peace River – 551 mobile homes – each about 15 feet apart – sit in the shadow of the interstate, on land that until a less than a year ago was cow pasture. The Federal Emergency Management Agency built the Airport Mobile Home Park to house people made homeless by Hurricane Charley. It’s the largest community of its kind to date. Valerie Alker has more. (AUDIO)

Hordes of mosquitoes are hatching across Southwest Florida – thanks to recent heavy rainfall. And mosquito control workers are stepping up their efforts. Techniques for counting mosquitoes are rather low-tech. Workers count the number of the stinging pests in traps. And they check so called “landing rates”. Ginny Day is a biologist with Charlotte County Mosquito Control.

“We have 20 stations – landing rate stations around the county – that’s where they actually stand and let the mosquitoes land on them and count the number of mosquitoes from the waste down in one minute's time.”

Eradication efforts vary – Charlotte County uses airplanes for blanket spraying large areas. Spray trucks drive through neighborhoods – and helicopters zero in on salt marches around Charlotte Harbor. The county will be using all its resources in the coming days to deal with a massive outbreak of mosquitoes.

Florida’s new Universal voluntary pre- kindergarten program begins this fall at public, private and faith-based preschools. The faith-based providers will be able to teach religion and they’ll be able to discriminate against accepting children based upon their faith. Lawmakers made those rules despite the state’s school voucher program being declared unconstitutional. It gives money to faith-based schools so that students in failing public schools can transfer. The state Supreme Court takes up that case today. If the lower courts are upheld, there could be ramifications for Florida’s pre-k program. Amy Tardif reports. (AUDIO)

The Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge is officially open to the public – thanks to 2 new hiking trails. Created in 1989 under the Endangered Species Act – the nearly 27,000-acre refuge is located in the heart of the Big Cypress Basin. Until now, it’s been closed to the public – but the 2 new trails allow general access—free of charge. Wildlife Biologist - Larry Richardson – says the trails represent a balance between education and conservation.

“You know this trail development was really a balance between interrupting panthers and taking their habitat – and the need for us to be educated about this wilderness…and we think we’ve gotten that balance. This trail can’t be a trail unless we provide that educational outreach that’s so important down here.”

One trail is about a third of a mile long – and wheelchair accessible. The longer trail – at just over a mile – is more natural, but will likely be closed during parts of the year due to flooding. Both are lined with informational signs and kiosks – and share the same trailhead—with a gated parking lot that’s open from dawn ‘til dusk. It’s in Collier County—about a quarter-mile north of I-75 on State Road 29. The trails are part of the newly established Everglades Trail System, a creation of former U.S. Senator Bob Graham.