More than 600 people endured the heat at Jaycee Park in Cape Coral Friday to get a look at a man who hopes to be President next Year. WGCU’s Luis Hernandez has more.

Many prominent Florida Democrats are retracting their presidential endorsements after the major candidates including Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama pledged not to campaign in the state during the primary season. The Democratic National Committee has vowed to strip Florida of convention delegates if the state party does not push its presidential primary back to February 5th or later. John Sepulvado reports.

Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich prides himself on being an
outsider. But now in his quest for the White House, he’s calling on a Florida
activist to get his campaign on the inside track. James Call reports.

Punta Gorda Republican Representative Paige Kreegel has been appointed to chair the House Energy Committee. The appointment comes after Republican Representative Bob Allen of Merritt Island was stripped of his leadership positions after allegedly soliciting prostitution from a male, undercover police officer. John Sepulvado has more.

Senator John McCain made a quick stop in Ft Myers Tuesday as part of a five city tour of Florida over the next couple of days.

The Senator’s plane landed at the Private Sky Aviation terminal at Southwest Florida International around 10-30 Tuesday morning. During a brief news conference McCain discussed his take on the war in Iraq, his trailing in the polls and national security. He spoke about the importance of immigration reform in reference to Cuban immigrants who’ve recently landed on Sanibel Island.

“I understand the people who flee from communist oppression…throughout all during the cold war we gave sanctuary to. I understand the feet, wet feet dry policy. This policy is not a good one but no one knows a better one yet.”

McCain also says more needs to be done to protect the nation’s borders which include the thousands of miles of coastline in Florida. From Ft Myers he flew to Miami to meet with campaign finance officials. He will also travel to West Palm Beach, Jacksonville then Orlando during his two day swing through the sunshine state.

The Chair of the Florida Democratic Party was in Southwest Florida Thursday.

Former Congresswoman Karen Thurman attended a reception in Naples in afternoon and met with Democrats at the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre in Ft. Myers Thursday evening. Thurman says after losing ground to the GOP in the Sunshine State following the 1994 election – Democrats are on the comeback trail – as demonstrated last November.

“Most importantly because we kept Senator Nelson, we were able to pick up a cabinet seat with Alex Sink, we were able to pick up two – we think three congressional seats, and we actually flipped seven republican state house seats and took them away from Republicans and made them Democratic”

Southwest Florida has been considered a Republican stronghold for years….attracting high profile members of the GOP and hosting many highly successful fundraising events. But Thurman says the Democratic Party is now poised to pay more attention to this area of the state – and take advantage of a shift in voter attitudes and allegiance.

Members of Southwest Florida’s state legislative delegation were guests at a Chamber of Commerce Luncheon in Ft. Myers Wednesday.

Lawmakers briefed business leaders on what to expect from the upcoming special legislative session – aimed at reducing Floridian’s property tax burdens. Republican State Senator Burt Saunders says whatever the outcome, he thinks the state’s Save our Homes Amendment – which limits property tax increases on homesteaded properties – is here to stay.

“now that we are there however, Save our Homes is a permanent part of the Florida Constitution, I don’t believe that homesteaded property owners are going to do anything to change the constitutional amendment – it would require 60 vote of electorate to change that – and most people who vote are homesteaded property owners – so that’s not going to change.”

Saunders says therefore lawmakers have to work around the law. And that in the upcoming special session they need to find a way to make the system fairer for all ad valorem tax payers, business owners, second home owners and renters. The special session begins June 12th.

Florida Democratic U-S Senator Bill Nelson is travelling in Africa this week. Nelson says the trip is an effort to bring more attention to the problems of Darfur.

Senator Nelson visited Chad Thursday – getting there via Kenya and Uganda after being denied access to Sudanese air space. Nelson was accompanied by the U-S ambassador to Chad, Mark Wohl. The two visited a camp in Chad occupied by Sudanese refugees from Darfur. Earlier this week President Bush ordered sanctions on Sudan for the genocide occurring in Darfur. Nelson, speaking from Chad, says the president has the right idea but needs to do more to help end the violence.

“This effort should have been made two years ago. This slaughter has been going on for four years. I think the president has made a statement in the right direction. And it is my hope that he will put the full weight of the white house behind this effort in the remaining year that he has.”

Nelson says he wants to see a U-N force of at least 20-to-25 thousand troops in the area. He did say that some of those troops could be American. He says they could include pilots enforcing a no-fly-zone.

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U-S Democratic Senator Bill Nelson of Florida wants America to do more to help end the genocide in Darfur, Sudan. The senator was travelling with American ambassador to Chad, Mark Wohl, visiting refugee camps in the area. Wohl says the U-S is working with the U-N and the African union to try and find peace.

“We’re working constantly in the United Nations with our international partners to build up an international commitment to do whatever is possible to bring peace to Darfur and on the Chad Sudan border.”

Nelson says there has to be a U-N force in the region. But it all starts with leadership from the United States, which could mean some U-S troops. Earlier this week President Bush announced sanctions on the Sudanese government. Nelson also says Russia and China need to stop helping the Sudanese government and do the right thing.

A loophole in Florida’s greenbelt law that allows developers to claim agricultural exemptions will remain intact for at least another year.

It’s a familiar sight throughout much of Florida – cows grazing beside the interstate or other major roadways on a scrap of land surrounded by development. State Senate Minority Leader Steve Geller has tried unsuccessfully to legislate an end to the practice he jokingly calls “Hertz rent-a-cow”

“an example used to drive to work and drive by lot – the lot was cleared for development – trees grass graded – clearly was ready to start building, but I guess the deal fell through cause what happened one day I saw four or five cows appear on that property – no trees no grass – they would bring in bales of hay – and metal trough with hose for water – no one can legitimately claim that’s agricultural.”

Geller says some urban landowners have actually rented the cows to turn the property into grazing lend to qualify for the agricultural exemption which lowers their tax rate. He says he supports the greenbelt law which protects bona-fide agricultural interests - but he says it was the agricultural lobby that kept his proposed legislation from moving forward. Geller says he’s not sure if he’ll bring it up again next session.


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Florida senate minority leader Steve Geller says some land-owners are claiming unfair agricultural exemptions – by grazing a few cows on land in urban areas that’s been rezoned for development. He says it’s a loophole that costs counties millions of dollars of tax revenue.

“you don’t even have to buy the cows – you can rent the cows to put on your property – I jokingly call it calling up hertz rent a cow that’s ridiculous – its not real bona-fide agricultural use its merely getting out of paying their fair share of property taxes which means everybody else has to pay more in property taxes to make up for it”

Geller wrote a bill this year that would have ended the practice but it failed in committee. The Democrat from Broward County says his intent is not to remove tax protection from bona-fide agricultural land users. But he says the agricultural lobby in the legislature – fearing erosion of their own tax status – squashed the bill.

Florida’s Senior Senator Democrat Bill Nelson wants Congress to pass the Kids and Cars Safety Act of 2007 after two more Florida children were killed by cars in their own driveways last weekend.

The Kids and Cars Safety Act of 2007 would install technology in cars that could help alert drivers to children behind their vehicles.

Nelson says such a law might have helped save the life of a 5-year-old Fort Myers girl who died Saturday after her 16-year-old brother backed into her while parking the family car. Or it might have saved a Hollywood 3-year-old girl who died Friday because she wandered behind her father's car as he was backing out of the driveway.

“There’s been a 138% increase in the last six years in the number of children killed in these non-crash fatalities in which people back over a child because they can’t see the child.”

Nelson says this month alone 11 children nationwide have been killed in this manner.

The Act would also require a vehicle’s service brake to engage while parked to prevent cars from rolling backwards. And it would mandate power windows automatically reverse direction to prevent a child from getting stuck as the window closes.

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Two children died in Florida last weekend after being run-over by cars driven by relatives in their own driveways. One was a 5-year-old Fort Myers girl killed by her 16-year-old brother as he parked the car.

This prompted U.S. Senator Bill Nelson of Florida to push the bipartisan Kids and Cars Act in Congress today (Tuesday). Nelson says the law would reduce the number of deaths and injuries by alerting drivers to the presence of a small child, or any object, behind a vehicle.
He says in the last six years, there’s been a 138 percent increase in the number of children killed this way.

“This month alone, April, there have been 11 children backed over and killed in this country. These injuries and deaths continue to occur even though we have the technology to prevent many of them but we need legislation to put this technology to use.”

The legislation would also ensure power windows reverse direction to prevent a child from being trapped and provide for a car’s service brake to engage to prevent it from rolling backwards down an incline.