All garbage, yard waste, and recycling collections are suspended today in Lee and Collier counties. The city of Fort Myers is collecting yard waste.

There’s no school in Lee, Collier, Glades, Hendry and DeSoto Counties.
There is school today in Charlotte county. Collier County Parks and Recreation offers a No School Fun Camp today at
•

State Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson was in Southwest Florida Wednesday – attending the Citrus Expo and meeting with business leaders. He’s also meeting with members of the state’s legislative delegation to lobby for changes to federal Farm Bill.
Key provisions of the most recent Farm Bill, passed in 2002 are up for renewal next year. Commissioner Bronson says there are requests to extend the farm bill as it is with some minor changes. Speaking at luncheon with Chamber of Southwest Florida, Bronson said the agriculture community would be better served by making some significant changes to the legislation.

I think it still goes pretty heavy to the program crops. I would like to see, since specialty crops are now 55 percent of the total farm cash receipts, that speciality crops, not in subsidy payments but the ability to use money to help promote those subsidy crops around the world so we can sell them around the world would help tremendously.

Program crops are soybeans, wheat, cotton, corn, wheat and the like. 95 percent of crops grown in Florida are specialty crops – like oranges, strawberries and tomatoes.

----

The Federal Farm Bill is is up for renewal next year – and Florida’s Agriculture Commissioner says he’d like to see it undergo some major revisions. Charles Bronson say right now the bill is skewed toward providing subsidies to farmers in the Midwest who grow wheat, soybeans, corn and the like. But Bronson says that formula doesn’t reflect the state of agriculture today.

We are actually making more money now off the specialty crops like oranges and tomatoes and strawberries and the things that we have here in Florida.

Commissioner Bronson also says he’d like to a provision in the farm bill that would provide quick relief to growers following natural disasters like hurricanes. He says right now the road to recovery relief is rife with bureaucratic hurdles.

Cape Coral residents who overpaid for utility expansion projects can expect to see refunds next month. Mayor Eric Feichthaler says costs for the installation of water, sewer and irrigation lines were cheaper than expected -- and residents should have received money back years ago. The refunds follow several audits that were critical of Cape Coral. Speaking on W-G-C-U’s Gulf Coast Live, Mayor Feichthaler said he’s trying to make sure that doesn’t happen again.

“Rather than blame and point fingers, we have to move forward and find ways to ensure that when we do have audits and we have outside views of these types of things, we have very good controls in place where there is no doubt about being fully cooperative, getting out information as quickly as possible and to make sure this lack of communication that we’ve seen never happens again.”

It’s less than three weeks until primary election day and the four main candidates battling to be the next Florida Governor have been trading punches. But you might be surprised to know there are actually a total of nineteen people vying to be governor this year. One of the lesser-known candidates made a stop in Fort Myers Thursday to try to draw attention to a campaign that’s received virtually no publicity. W-G-C-U’s Mike Kiniry has more.

With three weeks until the primary election, a majority of Democrats in Florida haven’t made up their minds who to vote for in September. Recent polls show the two main candidates in a statistical dead-heat.

Tampa Congressman Jim Davis started the campaign with a comfortable lead in both the polls and fundraising. Now State Senator Rod Smith has chipped away at that lead and finds himself even with voters that express a preference. But polls show more than half of all likely Democratic voters haven’t made up their minds yet. Speaking on Gulf Coast Live, Smith said that’s a concern. But a bigger concern would be if they had already decided against him:

“I really believe that if you are the guy that started as far behind as I did. I think from the outset, I started some 20-something points behind. The fact that I’m in the race, that I’m in a good position in the race and that a huge number of people haven’t made up their mind, I think that augers well for this campaign. And so I actually kind of like that dynamic.”

Smith has spent time courting Hispanics in South Florida, touting his plans for homeowners insurance reform and funding for stem cell research. On election day, Republicans will choose between State Attorney General Charlie Crist and Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher.

----

Florida gubernatorial candidate Rod Smith vowed today (Tuesday) to make changes to the state’s insurance market. The Democratic State Senator is locked in a tight primary race with Tampa Congressman Jim Davis. Polls show the two are neck-and-neck with most voters undecided with three weeks until the election. Smith vowed to stimulate competition in the insurance market to bring cheaper rates for Floridians. Speaking on W-G-C-U’s Gulf Coast Live, he also pledged to toughen oversight of the insurance industry.

“We’re going to have a crisis in home ownership, a crisis in the workplace and a crisis in the economy if we don’t immediately drive down and stabilize and then drive down rates in Florida for property insurance.”

Red tide continues to linger off the Southwest Florida coast with outbreaks just offshore in Collier, Lee, Charlotte and Sarasota Counties. Red tide is a naturally-occurring algae that kills birds, fish, manatees and causes breathing problems in humans. The noxious fumes drive people away from the beach and hurts tourism. Fort Myers Congressman Connie Mack says the government needs to create a red tide clearinghouse so that research funding is handed out and tracked better.

“There’s only so much money out there and there’s a lot of duplication. And I think we would be much better off and we’d be much closer to solutions if we used a process that went in that direction.”

Mack said scientists would review all of the red tide funding requests and give money to those that show the most promise. He says several federal agencies including NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration could easily oversee the project.

Florida G-O-P Senate candidate Katherine Harris brought her campaign to Naples last night to speak to the Collier County Republican Party. Her visit came amid continued frustration over her troubled campaign. Yesterday (Monday) Southwest Florida Congressman Connie Mack declined to offer his opinion on her chances. More than a dozen key Harris campaign aides have quit in the last year. She is well-known to treat her staff poorly and Katherine Harris has dwindling support from both the national and state Republican parties. Fort Myers G-O-P Representative Connie Mack serves with her in the House. Speaking on Gulf Coast Live, he did say she has an uphill climb. But would not say she should pull out of the race.

“It’s difficult when you see all the challenges that she’s facing and how to overcome those. But I’m not involved day-to-day in her campaign strategy and planning and what she’s trying to accomplish. So I don’t know I can answer that question. If you’re saying, ‘can she win?’ Yes, she can win.”

Political watchers expect Harris to win next month’s G-O-P primary but have a much harder time defeating Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson.

A mailing address is now available to homeless people in Lee County. People struggling to make the transition from homelessness to a home of their own face many challenges – not the least of which is no mailing address. Now if they choose – they can have one. Mail will be delivered to the individual in care of the Soup Kitchen on MLK Boulevard in Fort Myers. Robert Stryker directs the Lee County Homeless Coalition.

“One of the nice things about being able to do that is the person doesn’t have to put down john smith – soup kitchen – and the address. the just put down their name and address and folks don’t necessarily know that they’re homeless which is good if you’re applying for a job and you don’t want folks to know you’re in-between places to sleep at night.”

On any given night there are about two thousand homeless people in Lee County. The Homeless Coalition is working with Community Cooperative Ministries to provide the mail service. Counselors will also be on hand to help people apply for social security or other entitlements complete the process.
----

Homeless people in Lee County have a new tool to help them make the transition into the mainstream: a mailing address. They can use the address of the Soup Kitchen on Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard in Fort Myers – and pick up their mail there Monday through Saturday. Robert Stryker of the Lee County Homeless Coalition says being able to receive mail is a good thing.

“One of the things we’ve been addressing through the lee county homeless coalition is the importance of people who are transient or homeless that may be applying for a job may be applying for entitlements such as social security or V.A. benefits – or just needing to stay in touch with family.”

Lee County’s homeless population is estimated at around 2 thousand – and more during the winter months. The mail will be sorted into pigeon-hole slots. People picking up mail at the Soup Kitchen will need to have some kind of identification.

Last night (Thursday), the U-S House of Representatives passed a bill that would lift a federal ban on off-shore drilling. Unable to come to a consensus on whether to support or reject the bill, the Florida delegation splintered its vote. But Fort Myers Republican Connie Mack says the bill does not give Florida the protection it needs. From Capitol Hill, Terry Gildea (gil DAY) reports.

Almost two years after Hurricane Charley took the roof off Charlotte County’s Emergency Operations Center – officials broke ground Thursday on a new Public Safety Complex. The state-of-the-art facility will also house the Fire/E-M-S Administration and the county’s information help line. Charlotte County Commission Chairman Tom Moore praised recovery efforts.

“you’re the bunny you keep clicking down the trail- you’ve about got the commsioners worn out going to ribbon cuttings, and keep it up…”

The 8-and-a-half million dollar complex will be built withstand to 170 mile an hour winds. The building on Airport Road in Punta Gorda should be complete next summer.