Juneteenth day will be celebrated in African American communities across the nation this weekend. In Florida the day will also be marked by push to restore voting rights to former felons.

On June 19th 1865 slaves in Galveston Texas learned that President Abraham Lincoln had signed the emancipation proclamation – freeing them from bondage – two years earlier. That Juneteenth is a date that lives in history. This year history was also made in Florida when the state streamlined the process that restores civil rights – including voting rights – to former felons. Groups like the American Civil Liberties Union want to make sure that happens. Muslima Lewis is the ACLU’s director of Racial Justice and Voting Projects in Florida.

"under the new rules of executive clemency individuals who do get their rights restored under the more streamlined process that now exists may not learn about it because the burden is on them to make sure that their contact information is up to date with the department of corrections and office of clemency."

The ACLU is one of more than forty groups that comprise the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition. Coalition members will be at Juneteenth Celebrations across the state this weekend advising former felons of what steps to take to restore their rights. About one million people - many of whom are African American – are impacted. NAACP and ACLU members will be at the Juneteenth Celebration at the Robert Taylor Community Center on Saturday.

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Earlier this year Governor Charlie Crist signed legislation making it easier for former non-violent felons in Florida to have their civil rights restored. But the onus is on the individual to pursue the process. This coming weekend members of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition will be attending Juneteenth Celebrations around the state to advise people about the change in the law and help them take advantage of it. Muslima Lewis is the Racial Project Director for the American Civil Liberties Union.

"the link to juneteenth is while most of the individuals who have lost their civil rights are not African American, they’re white, but the African American community is disproportionately affected – and there’s a real parallel to juneteenth where we commemorate the fact that slaves in Galveston Texas did not learn that slavery had ended until two and half years after the fact."

Lewis says the theme for the Juneteenth Campaign is “Your Vote is your Voice”. In Southwest Florida Coalition will attend Juneteenth events in Sarasota on Saturday a the Robert Taylor Community Center and in Belle Glade at the First Missionary Baptist Church.

Mosquito control efforts are being ramped up following rains. Regular spraying to control the disease carrying pests is just one of the many services paid for by ad valorem taxes – that may impacted by this special legislative session. WGCU’s Valerie Alker reports.

The Lee County Mosquito Control District has about a 15 million dollar budget. It has more the hundred personnel who do everything from helicopter maintenance to answering phones calls from people complaining about the stinging pests. Mosquitoes also carry life threatening diseases says communication director Shelly Retovin.

“the ones that are common to lee county are west nile virus, st.louis encephalitis and occasionally eastern equine encephalistis but we’re always on the look out for malaria yellow fever and those – they’re not as common…”

So what’s mosquito control worth? Retovin says the cost is noted as a line item on homeowner’s ad valorem tax bills.

“we’re kind of looking at if you have a 200 thousand dollar house you’re probably paying something like 50 dollars a year for our services.”

Retovin says a tax cut of ten percent could cut into mosquito controls ability to provide the same level of service. Lawmakers are considering much deeper cuts. Some sources credit mosquito control, along with air-conditioning, with the creation of modern day Florida. The special runs through the end of next week.

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Recent rains mean mosquitoes are back. Mosquito control, along with air conditioning, is credited with helping create modern day Florida. In most Florida counties ad-valorem taxes pay for mosquito control services. And by the end of the special legislative that got underway in Tallahassee today, those taxes will most likely be cut. Lee County Mosquito Control Communication Director Shelly Retovin – says a funding cut would most likely mean more stinging pests.

“it would be very difficult, 10 percent cut you’re starting to talk – there would have to be some changes, government can always try to do things a little bit differently and try to be creative on saving money – but it would be very hard.”

Lawmakers are talking about a tax cut of nearly 20 percent tax cut. Retovin says in Lee County the cost of mosquito control for home valued at about 200 thousand dollars is about fifty dollars of the total annual tax bill.

Two incidents with U.S. Coast Guard Crews in Sanibel Island landed four men in federal court Monday afternoon. Two are being brought up on human smuggling charges, while two more are charged with resisting arrest.

After receiving a report that 11 Cuban nationals were smuggled onto Sanibel Island, the U.S. coast guard caught up with the suspected human smugglers south of Knapp’s point on Sanibel Island. The 2 men are now in the custody of Customs and Boarder Patrol. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Barbara Gonzalez says the Cuban immigrants took a huge risk.

“These human smugglers, they have no regard for human life. They’re just in it for the money. Family members who would even think or contemplate about paying these people should think twice. Not only are they breaking the law and they could be subject to criminal prosecution, but they’re putting the lives of their loved ones in the hands of people who have a callous disregard for life.”

Coast Guard crews brought 2 more men into custody Saturday, after disabling another smuggling boat headed outbound from San Carlos Bay in Lee County. The vessel let them on an 18-mile chase, and tried repeatedly to ram the coast guard rescue boats. The 375 gallons of fuel found on the boat, led officials to believe it was the fueling vessel for Sunday’s operation.

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Four men are in federal custody today after being brought up on charges ranging from human smuggling to resisting arrest after two incidents this past weekend with the U.S. Coast Guard in Sanibel Island.

Eleven Cuban immigrants - including 4 women, 6 men, and one child, were brought to Sanibel Island by human smugglers this weekend. Coast Guard crews caught up with the vessel a mile south of Knapp’s point on Sanibel and brought 2 men into Customs and Boarder patrol custody. Coast Guard spokeswoman Sondra-Kay Kneen says 2 other men, in what she calls a “go fast” boat, were taken into custody Saturday after attempting to flee coast guard crews.

“We came along side just to question, just to maybe do a routine boarding and the “go fast” made an attempt to ram the coast guard boat and then once they tried to ram it, it began to run. We had two 25-foot rescue boats on scene and we chased them. While we were chasing them, they continued to try and ram the coast guard boats.”

Coast guard crews disabled the vessel by firing into one of the engines. Kneen says they believe the men taken into custody Saturday were driving the fueling vessel for Sunday’s smuggling mission.

Angola was a community of escaped slaves, black Seminoles and self-emancipated Africans who made their home in the early 1800’s in Southwest Florida. Archaeologists are conducting the first underwater survey of the Manatee River in Bradenton searching for the town that has since disappeared. But so far it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack. Amy Tardif reports.

Starting Tuesday hunters across Florida can submit their applications for one of the 45-hundred permits available for the 2007 alligator hunting season.

Permits are issued on a first come, first serve basis for the 11 week alligator harvest…which begins August 15th and runs through the 1st of November.

Permits cost about 270 dollars and allow hunters to kill two alligators. Non-residents are eligible, but at nearly 4 times the cost.

Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman – Gary Morris – says there are 2 different kinds of permits…

“One is for an alligator harvest unit that’s a specific body of water. We only allow a certain number of alligators be taken out of certain bodies of water, and that has to do with managing the population. There’s also countywide harvest permits that allow you to go into public lakes, NOT in incorporated municipalities and cities and harvest gators from those public water bodies.”

First declared an endangered species in 1967 because of demand for their hides…the large reptiles made a comeback and were de-listed in 1987.

More than 64-hundred alligators were killed during the 2006 season…up from about 34-hundred the year before. Once on the brink of extinction, there are now more than a million ‘gators in Florida, Louisiana, Texas and Georgia.

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The state began accepting applications yesterday for alligator hunting permits for the 2007 season. The 270-dollar permits are issued in the order they were received. They allow hunters to kill 2 alligators…but only in specific bodies of water chosen during the application process.

And Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman – Gary Morris – says these permits have nothing to do with nuisance alligators.

“The nuisance alligator program is entirely different from the public waters hunt program. It deals with nuisance alligators you’d find in your swimming pools, your backyard, or ones that are threatening your pets, people or property. And generally that occurs in urban and suburban areas where the public waters alligator hunt does not occur.”

Morris says the FWC receives nearly 20-thousand calls on its nuisance alligator hotline each year. Killing an alligator in Florida without a permit is a third degree felony. The nuisance gator hotline is 866-FWC-GATOR.

Florida’s Senior United States Senator Democrat Bill Nelson and Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu are urging their senate colleagues to expedite the construction and launch of a new weather satellite.

Nasa’s QuickScat Satellite provides high resolution measurements of sea-level winds which are an important component in hurricane forecasting. But QuickScat, which was supposed to have a five year life span, is now in its 8th year of operation – and could fail at anytime. Senator Nelson says it’s critical that it be replaced.

“if we suddenly lose this by it going on the blink it would lessen our accuracy of our hurricane tracking forecast by about 16 percent – we need every bit of information we can get so when the monster comes we want to know where it’s going to hit so you can get the people out of harms way.”

According to National Hurricane Center Director Bill Proenza, no replacement is planned. Design and construction of a new satellite would take 3 to 4 years and cost up to 400 million dollars. Nelson and Landrieu are asking the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation to schedule a hearing on the importance of weather satellites. They have also introduced a bill to develop a replacement satellite.

Rookery Bay and the Society for Ethical Ecotourism in Southwest Florida are presenting a free program aimed at making ecotourism even greener.

Coordinator John Kiseda says eco-tour operators, fishing guides and ferry boat captains do a good job – but the program offers tips for doing it even better.

“as they are winding their way through the backwaters they can share information about the birds and ecosystems that they’re running through – plus some techniques they might use as far as slowing down their boats whenever a manatee or porpoise comes along so you can not only get a look at them but also explain to folks that you slowing down because there is an animal in the area and you want to go cautiously”

The program is Tuesday evening from 6 to 8:30 at Rutenberg Park in Ft. Myers. It will be presented by Alberto Chavez who has extensive experience leading tours in the Galapagos Islands. It will be repeated Thursday June 21st at Rookery Bay in Naples. Information is on line at www.seeswfl.org.

The former director of the Environmental Protection Agency will deliver the keynote address at a symposium in Key West beginning Friday. Christine Todd Whitman will talk about dwindling fresh water resources.

Christine Todd Whitman, who directed the EPA from 2001 to 2003, kicks off the Fifth Annual Truman Legacy Symposium, a conference concentrating on one aspect of former President Harry S. Truman’s tenure as chief executive.

“Truman really took things to a level that raised the awareness of the American people on the importance of preserving land and preserving the precious resources, like water – something that we don’t make more and most people seem to not understand that. They think it’s a free commodity that doesn’t need help whatsoever. You look at Lake Okeechobee and see what’s happening to water there and water throughout Florida and translate that around the country and the world and you’ll see what an enormous issue it is.”

Titled "Harry S. Truman and the Environment: From Los Alamos to the Everglades," the symposium is at the Little White House in Key West where Truman spent 175 days during his 1945-1953 tenure in office. Its timing coincides with the 60th anniversary of Truman’s dedication of Everglades National Park.

Whitman also plans to discuss current U.S. environmental policy and the importance of leadership relationships at both government and grassroots levels.

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The Fifth Annual Truman Legacy Symposium kicks off in Key West Friday. This year’s theme is the environment, marking the 60th anniversary of President Harry S. Truman’s dedication of Everglades National Park. Christine Todd Whitman, who directed the EPA from 2001 to 2003 delivers the key note address. She says President Truman, who served from 1945 to 1953, was ahead of the curve.

“And it was very hard to be ahead. It always is hard in environmental issues to be ahead of the curve because it’s hard to convince people about a problem they may not be seeing. And yet that’s really what he did with his environmental legacy.”

Other presenters include Michael Grunwald of "The Washington Post," author of "The Swamp: The Everglades, Florida and the Politics of Paradise, one of Truman’s speechwriters as well as Truman’s grandson Clifton Truman Daniel.

The symposium takes place at the Little White House in Key West where Truman vacationed when he was President.

FLoridians want significant tax relief but don’t want to compromise their quality of life. That pretty much sums up the results of a recent survey taken as the special legislative session aimed at property tax cuts approaches.

During the boom years of the mid 2000’s increasing property values led to a spike in property taxes – especially for business owners and part-time residents. And residents benefitting from the state save our homes amendment have felt trapped in homes that have been too large or small. Lawmakers listened and promise a fix, but county officials are wary. Charlotte County Administrator Bruce Loucks says taxpayers can’t have it both ways - tax cuts will also mean cuts in service.

“a lot people are going to be impacted different ways, for some people they don’t get – they don’t see the benefit they get from government services and that’s fine – those are the people that it doesn’t matter one way or the other what the impacts are however if you’re a person with children and you need parks and libraries then I think the impacts will be more significant. These impacts are going to be hitting different segments of the population differently"

Loucks says if lawmakers proceed as anticipated a resident of Charlotte County with an annual tax bill of 2000 dollars will see their taxes decline by about 380 dollars a year.

By law, counties are required to provide for the public’s safety – so those services would not be impacted. Other’s most likely will be. The special session starts June 12th.

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County officials will have their sights focused on Tallahassee next week as state lawmakers begin a special session aimed at lowering property taxes. In a recent poll nearly all respondents said they want significant property tax cuts. But they also said they don’t want local governments to make up for those cuts by reducing services. Charlotte County Administrator Bruce Loucks says that’s wishful thinking.


"Government cannot reduce its revenues without reducing expenses . We collect 150 million dollars in property taxes from residents – 80 million of that goes to those constitutional offices – so half of the ad valorem taxes we collect we cannot impact – so for budget reductions to be made they have to come from the other half of the county sources that funds things like libraries and parks and some of those discretionary services."

The constitutional officers are tax collector, elections supervisor, property appraiser and clerk of courts. The state government also has final say over the sheriff’s budget. Loucks says there’s little fat to cut from Charlotte County’s budget – it’s spent millions over the last three years repairing infrastructure damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Charley in 2004.

While it may have seemed like we got a lot of rain over the weekend, water managers say it will take many more Tropical Storm Barry’s to pull the region out of its record drought. But fire officials are thanking the tropical system for helping them contain several area wildfires.

Some areas of the Florida received up to 7 inches of rain as Barry swept across the state. Here in southwest Florida rain gauges showed between 1 and 3 inches of rain on Friday and Saturday.

Wildfire Mitigation Specialist with the Florida Division of Forestry – Jerry LaCavera – says that was enough to cool several large fires they’d been battling.

“We actually got enough rain so that we were able to put the level of containment on both the Hendry County fire and the Picayune Strand fire that was still open at 100-percent containment. The fire in Big Cypress was also able to move to 95-percent containment because of help we got from the rain.”

LaCavera says Barry’s rains will help keep the wildfire risk down for a few days at least, but that it’s still extremely dry and the fire risk still increased. And water managers say Barry did nothing to change their long-term outlook…and that water use restrictions are still in place, across South Florida.

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Barry’s rains helped firefighters get a handle on several large fires they’d been battling in recent weeks. The fire in Collier County in the Picayune Strand State Forest is now considered 100-percent contained, as is another fire that had been burning in Hendry County.

Jerry LaCavera is Wildfire Mitigation Specialist with the Florida Division of Forestry. He says Barry solved an immediate need for moisture in critical areas, but that what’s really needed is a return to typical rain patterns.

“These once in a while large events are nice, but a lot of that water does run off because the ground’s so hard. We need the duration of rain to hit so they can soak in, do the good, and get both the water management water tables back up to where they belong, and the vegetation fully moisturized so we can lower the wildfire risk that way.”

LaCavera says the wildfire risk will be a bit lower over the next few days, but that the long-term outlook is still quite dry.

Water managers are reminding residents that Barry’s showers had no effect on water use restrictions…which are still in effect across South Florida.