The new midfield terminal at Southwest Florida International Airport is scheduled to open Friday September 9th. An army of workers is on the job - hustling to meet the deadline. On Tuesday, reporters got a sneak peek. Valerie Alker was one of them.

A Fort Myers High School employee has been arrested—for allegedly trying to trade child pornography for a tattoo. 34-year-old William Lane was arrested over the weekend after a local tattoo artist contacted law enforcement about the proposed swap. The trade allegedly occurred in an AOL-Fort Myers chat room. Members of the FBI’s “Innocent Images Task Force” executed a federal search warrant at Lane’s residence – where they discovered more than 4-thousand images of children ages 6 to 16—engaged in sex acts. The task force includes members of the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and Immigration and Customs. FBI Special Agent John Kuchta says the task force goes undercover to combat child porn. He says its focus is the Internet.

“It’s a target-rich environment to meet children to exploit, and also to trade child pornographic images. When the program started I think there were like maybe 10-million people online…the latest statistics, you know 8 out of 10 school age children have access to the Internet now, either thru school or home or library connections.”

The Innocent Images Task Force was formed in 1995 – after a kidnapping case in which a child was lured… then killed…by a sexual predator. Undercover agents visit chat rooms, newsgroups and websites. William Lane is an interpreter for deaf students at Fort Myers High. If convicted, he faces 5 to 20 years in prison.

Sarasota launched a campaign Tuesday to try to get people to stop running red lights. It’s in conjunction with National Stop on Red Week, which runs through Friday. The Florida Highway Patrol and Sarasota, Venice, and North Port Police Departments joined the “I Stop on Red” campaign. Melissa Wandall was the keynote speaker. A red light runner killed her husband in 2003, just two weeks before their baby was born. She has since started the Mark Wandall Foundation to promote red light education.

“If my husband were here today my life would be so different. I was always looking for a cause, and that’s the unfortunate part about it I was involved in a lot of different charities but never knew that this would be the cause that I would be involved in, but I will not rest. This is my cause forever.”

Wandall says there are ways to stop tragedy like hers from happening to others.
The Florida Department of Transportation is now using “enforcement lights” or “white lights”. They operate on the same wire as red lights so they both shine simultaneously and are visible in any direction. This allows police to monitor all angles of an intersection for red light runners.

“Casualties, accidents are continuing to happen out there because people are not paying attention to what they’re doing. They’re blatently running red lights. There’s no curtosy on the highways. They’re basically using their vehicles as weapons and they don’t even realize it.”

Federal Highway Administration figures from 2000 show people running red lights caused about 92,000 crashes, 90,000 injuries and nearly 1,000 deaths nationwide.

It’s long been suspected freshwater releases—down the Caloosahatchee River—from Lake Okeechobee, contribute to algae blooms and fish kills. Yet, there’s been no scientific proof of a connection. But a new study, set to begin next month, looks to find any quantifiable evidence between the releases and the health of the Caloosahatchee estuary. Researchers from Florida Gulf Coast University and the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation will use high-tech sensors to track the progress of organic compounds from Lake Okeechobee… and through the estuary. Dr. Randall Alberte is Director of Biotechnology at FGCU… and will help lead the study.

“People argue that the lake releases are the cause of red tide blooms, and selective fish kills and a lot of events here, but nobody really knows. So this is first chance to use new technologies to start answering that question. Where does the lake water go…what are some of the impacts?”

The South Florida Water Management District is funding half of the 200-thousand dollar study. Alberte says he and his colleagues expect to find evidence of oils and fuel additives - drugs and medications that have seeped out of septic systems around the lake - as well as herbicides and pesticides from agricultural runoff. He says the study will finally provide some facts about a contentious subject.

“This whole issue is very emotional. As scientists it’s our responsibility to try and provide the best scientific foundation for making decisions, and for rational management. You can’t manage based on emotion. So it could be good news or bad news for either side of the fence…we just don’t know. I don’t have a particular position, I’m just looking for possible causes…and I think it’s going to be a complicated picture. I don’t think it’s going to be simple.”

Water managers release fresh water from the Lake—down the Caloosahatchee—to maintain safe water levels. Alberte says he hopes the study will lead to new approaches in this ongoing issue.

Across Florida, volunteers and workers are standing by – in case Louisiana, Mississipppi and Alabama need help picking up the pieces after Hurricane Katrina. Valerie Alker reports.

As residents along the northern Gulf Coast begin to assess damage from Hurricane Katrina—folks in South Florida are still dealing with its aftermath. Katrina’s first landfall came Thursday—as a category 1. Hundreds of thousands of people were still without power late Monday afternoon. Florida Power & Light hoped to restore electricity to 90 percent of them by last night… and to the remaining 10 percent by Friday. President Bush waited until the weekend to declare Miami-Dade and Broward counties “federal disaster areas.” In other hurricanes, that declaration has come much sooner. Doug Phillips—of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel—says, in this case, the federal government wanted to be sure it was necessary.

“In an abundance of caution, they’re not rushing in with open checkbooks. And they just want to make sure that payments that they make are legitimate payments. I wouldn’t say there are any hard feelings. I would say there’s some caution that the president and congress don’t want the agency to rush in and start shelling money out—until it’s legitimately proven.”

Last year, FEMA doled out money to people in Miami-Dade who hadn’t actually suffered hurricane damage. The agency even paid for the funerals of people whose deaths weren’t a direct result of the hurricanes. Meanwhile, power outages aren’t the only problem… In south Miami-Dade County, there are still reports of significant flooding.

People in the Florida Keys were surprised by Katrina’s sudden turn to the south on Friday. But despite being hit by the storm, island officials expect to welcome tourists Labor Day weekend as per usual. All Keys governments, schools and courts expected to reopen Monday. Key West Mayor Jimmy Weekley says things are back to normal.
“We expect to have the Labor Day crowds that we normally have over that weekend. We’re ready for visitors. We expect a busy weekend next week. We want people to come down. The roads are open. We have the power and we want people to come down and experience Key West like they normally do on any other long weekend that they come down to enjoy.”

The storm surge was 3 to 5 feet above normal, and rain swamped the islands, causing flooding in low-lying areas. A tornado blew apart a hangar at Florida Keys Marathon Airport. Three crews from the Glades Electric Cooperative in Moorehaven helped restore power in the Keys this weekend.

In a hurricane, evacuations, power outages, and other storm-related hardships present challenges, especially to the elderly and those with disabilities. More than one-sixth of Florida’s population is at least 65 years old with a disability rate of three times that of the rest of the population, according to the 2000 US Census. Anyone with a temporary or permanent condition that impairs mobility, strength, judgment or other critical functions should have hurricane plans. Preparation involves: assessing the situation, seeking help, arranging to weather the storm at home, and creating an evacuation plan. University of Florida Professor Caroline Wilken says there are many things to consider.

“They need to remember to have extra batteries for hearing aids or for wheelchairs; they need to be sure that their medication is in order and that they have it where they can get to it and keep track of it, and they need to be sure that they have their medical information very handy; that people can get that information in case they’re not able to speak for themselves; they need extra eyeglasses; if they use oxygen to be sure they can handle the oxygen situation.”

As red tide sits off the southwest Florida coast, researchers at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota have learned a 5-year grant to study the algal bloom WILL NOT be renewed.
The 7-million dollar grant—from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences—funded the large project—led by the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Other research partners included the University of Miami and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Mote’s Dr. Barbara Kirkpatrick had hoped recent recommendations—from her scientific peers—to continue funding— would have resulted in a different outcome.

“Unfortunately then it went to the agency to decide, and the director of the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences felt like we missed the bar just a little bit to merit another 5 years of funding.”

Dr. Kirkpatrick says research dollars are becoming harder and harder to come by. The multi-part study looks at red tide toxins, and how they affect people and animals. Dr. Kirkpatrick says the non-renewal will mean stopping most of the research…although one aspect will continue.

“The Florida Department of Health is going to provide me here at Mote Marine Lab some bridge money to keep the asthmatic group on the beach that have been coming out for the last couple years – keep those studies going, because they understand that it’s critical that we follow the same people over time, and we don’t want to lose that group of folks. But all the lab studies, all the animal studies, are going to be put on hold until we can get this thing refunded.”

Dr. Kirkpatrick says Mote will re-apply for another 5-year grant in October.

Tropical Storm Katrina is 90 miles east of Fort Lauderdale. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center say it could reach hurricane strength before making landfall late tonight or early tomorrow. Broward County recommends residents on barrier islands in the Fort Lauderdale area evacuate. The current path shows the storm passing south of Lake Okeechobee and entering the gulf of Mexico somewhere over Lee, Charlotte or Collier counties early Saturday. Jennifer Pralgo is a meteorologist with the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

“The Fort Myers area will probably get tropical storm force winds – maybe tropical depression strength – 30 to 40 miles an hour. But, the rainfall will definitely be an issue here. We’re looking at anywhere between 8 to 10 inches of rain.”

Southwest Florida Emergency Managers advise visitors and residents to make preparations for Tropical Storm Katrina. Expect sustained winds in the 55 to 70 miles per hour range, and more than 10 inches of rain. Localized flooding could be a major threat. A hurricane warning affects the southeastern Florida coast from Vero Beach to Florida City including Lake Okeechobee. A tropical storm watch has been issued for Florida's west coast, from Florida City to Englewood.