A report released Tuesday warns an increase in the number of children placed in foster care could result in increased abuse.
Officials came to Ft. Myers to publicize details of the report…on child welfare in Florida. They chose Lee County because of a local spike in the number of children removed from their homes this year.
The increase follows the rape and killing of a Lehigh Acres girl in February. 13-year-old Michelle Fontanez remained at home despite reports of on-going abuse by her stepfather. Richard Wexler is Executive Director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform.

“In the aftermath of the death of Michelle Fontanez caseworkers are running scared. Terrified of having the next such case on their caseload – they’re taking away large numbers of additional children needlessly. So the number of children taken from their parents in the months after Michelle died is up 50-percent from the same period a year ago.”

But Wexler says data shows spikes like this often backfire. As more children enter the system – he says caseworkers become overburdened – allowing more kids to slip through the cracks.

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Nearly half of Lee County voters will be casting ballots at new locations this fall. Notices will soon be mailed to more than 128 thousand Lee voters telling them where their new polling place is – in time for the September 5th primary election. Some changes are because old polling locations were too small, or didn’t have adequate parking. A few sites decided they didn’t want to host elections anymore. But Lee County Supervisor of Elections – Sharon Harrington – says most of the changes stem from a 2002 federal election reform bill requiring precincts to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“We were able to receive a variance up through the 2004 elections but that expires on Election Day this September. So by this election day we had to have all our precincts up to snuff as far as all of the ADA requirements.”

Passed in the wake of the 2000 election, the 2002 Help America Vote Act affects nearly every aspect of elections in the United States… from ADA compliance issues to the replacement of punch card and manual lever voting machines. Harrington says anyone with questions about where to vote should call her office – or go online to www.LeeElections.com.
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While changes to polling locations in Lee County might make it easier for some people to vote, for others it might make the process more difficult. About 40-percent of Lee voters will cast their ballot at new sites beginning with the September 5th Primary Election. In all 70 out of 171 voting sites are changing, mostly to comply with the 2002 federal Help Americans Vote Act – which mandated certain changes be made before the 2004 elections, including full compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act. Sharon Harrington is Lee County Supervisor of Elections.

“We’re hoping that for some it may be a lot closer for others it might be a little for of a distance. We’re saying if anyone has a problem with getting to their polling location they should either look into coming to do early voting at any of our locations, or possibly call and get an absentee ballot and we’ll just mail the ballot to them.”

Harrington says they’ve had changes in Lee before, but never anything this massive. Affected voters will soon be receiving notification by mail. Residents have until August 7th to register for the September Primary.

Forget all the negative things experts said about Florida’s universal voluntary pre kindergarten program this year – the day was too short, teachers lacked degrees and lessons varied too greatly. Because this summer, it’s everything it’s supposed to be – with certified teachers, small class sizes and an all-day program in public schools. WGCU’s Amy Tardif reports on the first summer version of Florida’s voter-mandated free pre –k.

Dozens of scientists, researchers and others are meeting in Sarasota this week. They’re discussing ongoing problems with red tide and what can be done to try to curb the outbreaks. The meeting couldn’t come at a better time because the main algae that causes red tide is blooming right now in the waters of Lee and Collier Counties, killing thousands of fish and polluting the air with noxious fumes. Red tide is naturally-occurring and has bloomed in the Gulf of Mexico for at least 150 years. But scientists are meeting at Mote Marine Laboratory to try to find consensus and new strategies. Cindy Heil of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is one of the organizers.

“We’re asking them to get together and try to identify what the research goals should be with regards to red tide over the next five to ten years. What direction should it take? What should be our focus? What are the burning questions basically with regards to Florida red tide?”

Heil made the comments on Gulf Coast Live. She admitted last year’s red tide outbreaks, though not the worst on record, are part of the reason for the four-day seminar.
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Red tide outbreaks are lingering off the Lee and Collier County coasts this week. The toxic-algae blooms have already killed thousands of fish and sickened a handful of residents. Dozens of scientists and others happen to be meeting in Sarasota at Mote Marine Laboratory this week for a four-day seminar on red tide. Mote Environmental Health Program manager Barb Kirkpatrick says the group is meeting to start a conversation among the experts to try to find some solutions:

“To get the biologists and the chemists and the physical oceanographers, the public health folks – all in the same room talking about okay, ‘this is where we’re at. And these are the tools or the things we need to drive our research forward to get more answers.’ And to really talk as a community.”

Kirkpatrick spoke on W-G-C-U’s Gulf Coast Live. For the first time, they’ve asked the public for help. More than 500 people from around Florida have already filled-out online red tide surveys. She says the biggest request is to continue funding for red tide research.

A Fort Myers family is anxiously monitoring the news for updates on the escalating conflict between Israel and Lebanon. Their daughter is near the Israeli city of Haifa where she had planned to spend the summer studying Hebrew. Haifa is a port city, the third largest in Israel, about twenty miles south of the Lebanon border. Maya Osterman arrived there July 7th – just days before the armed conflict between Israel and the Hezbollah movement in Lebanon began. Maya’s mother, Rozzi Osterman, says since then her daughter’s days and nights have been punctuated by trips to the nearest bomb shelter.

“She’s gotten pretty used to it. There’s an announcement that says please go to your shelters and they all run down – they’ve gotten a little savvier now to know to bring some comforts with them. Sometimes someone will grab some candy or an ipod, definitely a cell phone and maybe a computer.”

Osterman says she’s concerned about her daughter’s safety – but nearly equally concerned about the political situation in Israel. The Osterman’s also have family members and friends living in Israel. Maya Osterman should find out Wednesday if her summer collegiate studies can be resumed.

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A Fort Myers family whose daughter was scheduled to spend the summer studying Hebrew in Israel says they’ll find out Wednesday if class has been cancelled. Maya Osterman arrived in the city of Haifa just days before bombs began to fall in the conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon. Since then she’s been spending a lot of time in bomb shelters. Rozzi Osterman says she’s worried about her daughter - but also about Israel’s future.

“If I could click my heels three times I would prefer that world and democratic nations somehow stop terrorism. And then she could come when it was the right time to come home. That would be my first click. But obviously I want her out of harm’s way.”

Rozzi Osterman went to college in Israel and lived there for 11 years. Her husband, John, served in the Israeli military. Maya Osterman grew up in Fort Myers and is a sophomore at the University of Colorado.

The Statewide Law Enforcement Radio System allows officials from 17 different agencies to stay in constant communication, no matter where they are in the state.

Initially begun in 1988, it’s funded with a 1-dollar surcharge on all boat and vehicle registrations in Florida.

Project Manager - Linda Fuchs (FYUKES) - says the state began a pilot project in 1990...


“They continued with that project and building out the system until 1999 when it was decided it was better to change course. That the project was taking too long and costing too much money with the state owning the system.”

So in 2000 Governor Jeb Bush decided to end state-only development of the project…and put together a public/private partnership.

Now 6 years later the radio system is ready. More than 65-hundred officials will use the new network for all local, and inter-agency communication.

The ‘Statewide Law Enforcement Radio System’ is a dedicated digital radio network for officials from 17 state agencies. They’ll use the new system for local and statewide communications.

Tiffany Koenigkramer (KOH-nig-KRAY-mur) is spokeswoman for the state’s Department of Management Services, which oversees the project.


“So now all state agency law enforcement officers are now able to communicate with one another on one radio system. For example an FHP from Tallahassee can now talk with FDLE or Fish & Wildlife down in Miami using the same radio system.”

The new network also allows officers to travel throughout the state without changing equipment.

Until now, officials going from one area to another often had to switch radios because of multiple systems.

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Space-walking astronauts aboard the shuttle Discovery practiced new repair techniques Wednesday. Two astronauts used a ‘caulking gun’ to squeeze out a putty-like sealant to fix a simulated crack in the orbiter. NASA spokesman Pat Ryan says the simple repair would be needed if the shuttle were damaged on takeoff or in orbit.

“It would be used if there were a crack or a gouge in one of these panels that are used to line the leading edge of the wings and the nose cap. A different sort of repair would have to be done if there were damage to the heat tiles that are on the underside of the shuttle.”