As expected, Pam Stewart this week got to drop the word "interim" from her title and became Florida’s newest education commissioner. Lynn Hatter reports Stewart’s appointment has some education watchers hoping the revolving door at the Florida Department of Education will stop turning.
Florida has what’s called a citizen legislature. That means being a lawmaker isn’t a year-round job and most lawmakers have another occupation. But consider for a second the lawmakers who are also public sector employees—like teachers. If a teacher is at the Capitol, they’re not standing at a blackboard back home. As Regan McCarthy reports, that leads to some juggling of schedules and payrolls…
The head of the Florida Department of Children and Families’ Sexually Violent Predator Program, which is in charge of identifying the state’s most dangerous sexual offenders, has stepped down. Even though his resignation letter offers no job-related reason for his departure, Boca Raton Democratic State Representative Irv Slosberg says too many sexual predators flew under the department’s radar on Montaldi’s watch.
"I think what the state needs is a fresh start. It’s in the best interest for the public at large to have a woman spearheading the sexually violent predator program, as women are affected the most by this and so you know, he was allowing a lot of sexual predators fall through the cracks"
But, the Florida Action Committee’s Gail Colletta, who advocates for sex offender rights, says there is a big difference between a sex offender and a sex predator.
"What we need to do is make sure that we are separating the fact that there are predators and there are offenders and we need to be looking at the research and using the empirical evidence and the empirical data to create policies for Florida that work."
Lawmakers began considering changes to sex offender statutes after the June murder of 8-year old Cherish Perrywinkle, who was killed by a registered sex offender. But, out of the more than 31-thousand registered sex offenders in Florida, fewer than two percent reoffended within the first fifteen years after release. DCF officials declined to comment on the reasons for Montaldi’s resignation.
Florida’s unemployment rate has fallen to an even 7-percent. It had been stuck for the last three months at 7.1-percent. Department of Economic Opportunity Executive Director Jesse Panuccio says though that decrease is slight, it’s a positive sign for the state’s economy.
"And I think the long-term trend is that people are getting confident about the Florida economy again. Businesses are moving here…"
Panuccio says the state is also seeing an increase in the number of businesses that are hiring.
Imagine a future where drones cloud the sky as they monitor weather and traffic, survey vegetable crops, study water pollution, film major motion pictures and more. Florida aerospace industry leaders say that future is coming. They want the state to be one of six where the Federal Aviation Administration will test drones. Thirty-seven states are competing for the test site designations. Even if Florida doesn't get one, industry leaders say they're bringing drones to the state, as Amy Green reports.