HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER TOM DELAY WAS INDICTED BY A TEXAS DISTRICT ATTORNEY YESTERDAY AND STEPPED DOWN TEMPORARILY FROM HIS POSITION. LAURA STRICKLER CAUGHT UP WITH FLORIDA LAWMAKERS FOR THEIR REACTION.

Eighty-five infant sea turtles were released off the Florida Keys Tuesday. Their release was delayed a week due to Hurricane Rita. Eighty one of the silver dollar-size reptiles were endangered green sea turtles while four were threatened loggerheads.

The director of a turtle hospital in Marathon Richie Moretti says the animals were rescued on the beaches in the Keys about three weeks ago. They were either stuck in the bottom of their nests or tried to swim to sea, but couldn't. Moretti says the release took place on a sargassum weedline about 10 miles off Marathon.

"And they're going to stay in this weed for the next 15-20 years of their life. And they're going to go all around the Sargasso Sea. They're going to go up along North Carolina and turn right to the Azores. Alright. They're waving good-bye, thank you for the ride."

Weedlines are natural habitats that nurture young sea turtles. Early Tuesday, Moretti flew in a small plane off the Keys to find the weedline. The U.S. Coast Guard base in Marathon provided a boat and crew to transport him and the turtles to it.

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School districts across Florida are grappling with the newly passed Jessica Lunsford Act – part of which requires screening for workers who come onto school grounds. The law took effect September 1st – as a response to the rape and murder of 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford in Homosassa, Florida. It requires workers who might come into contact with students – including construction workers, delivery people and sports officials – to undergo background checks. Districts are expected to pay the roughly 80-dollar cost for each screening.
Lee County Schools Superintendent – Dr. James Browder – says there are unintended consequences… like making it harder to attract building contractors.

“This is another example of something that’ll drive the cost of construction up. If you have several sub-contractors, you have to get everybody on those teams that go into a school to, for instance reconstruct a portion of the building, all those folks have to have a level 2 screening, which means that they’re fingerprinted, and that goes through the FBI database.”

Browder says he’s already heard that some contractors would sooner STOP doing business with the district, than get all their workers screened. There’s also concern over ambiguities in the law – including who exactly gets screened, and whether people who work in multiple districts require multiple screenings. The Florida Legislature is expected to take up the issue during a special session in the coming months.

Charlotte County has no official hurricane shelters. Much of the county is just slightly above sea level… and the Red Cross hasn’t found a safe enough spot. Evacuees flee North to Sarasota County, south to Lee, or east to Glades. But that could change… if an abandoned mental hospital can become a shelter—specifically for those with special needs. Valerie Alker reports.

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It’s estimated up to 20 million women and one million men in the U.S. are afflicted with eating disorders. 21-year-old Heather is a psychology major at Florida Gulf Coast University. She’s an after-school counselor and a cheerleading coach. But Heather has anorexia. And this spring she spent two months in Arizona – at one of the country’s foremost treatment centers for women with anorexia. There, she was required to write about the disease.
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Tonight at 7 The Southwest Florida Community Foundation holds an eating disorders forum for school counselors, nurses, health instructors, coaches and the public at Harborside Convention Center in downtown Fort Myers.

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A study is getting underway—to look at improving traffic flow in downtown Cape Coral... and make the area more pedestrian and biker-friendly. Residents and business owners along and near Cape Coral Parkway and Del Prado Boulevard may receive surveys to fill out. They pose 10 questions about traffic habits and perceptions of downtown. On Tuesday blank surveys will be handed out to commuters. Traffic Engineer for the City of Cape Coral, Dr. Rashad Hanbali says the study aims to address several traffic concerns.

“Among them: enhancing circulation, enhancing safety, walkable streets, distribution of parking, and all related issues.”

Planners call the evaluation of traffic key to the redevelopment of downtown Cape Coral. Anyone interested in commenting may download a survey: at CAPECORALTRAFFICSTUDY-dot-NET. It should be post-marked by October 12th.