This is a production of WEDU PBS, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota.

♪♪ Coming up for the first time since 2015, Florida is bringing back the black bear hunting season.

There are new developments in the political case involving the Hope Florida Foundation.

Plus, Governor Ron DeSantis is defending Florida's procedures for mail-in ballots after President Trump calls for an end to the practice.

And a special tribute to a journalism icon in Tampa Bay lost to cancer this week.

We remember Rob Lorei on Florida This Week.

♪♪ Welcome back.

I'm Lissette Campos.

We begin this show with news that hit us especially hard at Florida This Week.

Rob Lorei, WEDU longtime host and journalist, passed away from cancer over the weekend.

Rob was a brilliant moderator of Florida This Week for nearly 24 years.

He was also the co-founder of WMNF Radio and a beloved colleague and friend.

All of us who knew him mourn his loss and his unwavering dedication to public media, as well as to our local community here in Tampa Bay.

I'm joined on the set this afternoon by Ray Roa, who is the Editor-In-Chief of Creative Loafing.

Among the last few to really to interview him and talk about what he was facing, what was his mindset?

He always seemed very, very positive.

He was very positive.

Interviewed him on the Monday after the announcement that he made here.

So he heard from a lot of the community and I think that uplifted him.

He said he was feeling good and he talked briefly about, you know, the cancer that was inside of him.

But mostly he talked about news like that's how Rob was.

So he talked about Social Security.

Um, we talked a lot about bringing like, good, honest people with facts to the table and how he was, you know, bummed to be leaving at a time when he felt like the news was was really important.

And, uh, it was crazy when I asked him, you know, about mortality.

You know, he really just pivoted to younger people at Moffitt that he saw, um, who perhaps didn't have the same insurance as him.

And he went on an insurance thing about how younger people should have a better opportunity to not go broke over, over cancer patients.

So he was always thinking about, um, somebody else and certainly always thinking about new stories.

And he was seen at protests and stuff.

After that, he did stuff for La Gaceta.

So he kept doing it, I think, right up until the very end.

I saw him a few times after our interview, but, um, didn't get to see him closer to the end.

He was also a wonderful mentor.

You talked about how he supported you in your career?

Yeah.

You don't realize it.

Uh, until sometimes someone's gone, but how much them just being around you and saying little encouraging things to you really can go a long way.

Anytime I would come in here, he always had a copy of Creative Loafing there, and maybe he maybe he just placed it there like, you know, but he would just talk positively and just be an encouraging person.

And he opened up a lot of doors for a lot of people, and that was just what he did.

So, um, definitely super grateful to know Rob and have his example.

And I'm very sad for the community and for his family as well.

Thank you for helping us remember him in a special way.

Absolutely.

WEDU will be airing a special, a one hour tribute show to reflect on Rob's enduring legacy.

It will air next Friday, August the 29th at 8:30 p.m.. Our condolences go out to his family and everyone in the Tampa Bay area who is touched by his life and his work.

But knowing Rob as we do, he would have probably been the first to say it's time to get on with the show.

So joining us on our panel for Florida This Week, we have Paul Tash, retired chairman of the Tampa Bay Times and the Times Publishing Company.

Ray Roa, Editor-In-Chief of Creative Loafing.

Mitch Perry, reporter at the Florida Phoenix.

And Jennifer Griffith with JWG Collaborations.

Fresh scrutiny is facing the Hope Florida Foundation, an initiative led by First Lady Casey DeSantis.

New documents show the program received $10 million settlement from a medicaid contractor under irregular circumstances.

Criminal and federal investigations are underway, and some lawmakers are now calling for accountability at the highest levels.

Hope Florida was created in 2021 to connect Floridians with community resources.

Now, internal records reveal a $10 million settlement from Medicaid contractor Centene was funneled to the foundation under direct pressure from the governor's office.

Emails show Centene was directed to make the payment as a condition of resolving a larger settlement of $67 million.

The paper trail shows that instead of direct community assistance, the funds were sent to political action committees.

Committees opposing a 2024 Marijuana legalization amendment.

I mean, this is a misuse of Medicaid money.

This is money laundering.

The attorney general's office at the time tried to distance itself from the payment, even though records show that Chief Deputy AG John Gard played roles in structuring the settlement.

Documents reveal warnings that the foundation could face IRS penalties, including a potential $2.5 million excise tax because a donation could be considered political activity.

The president of Hope, Florida, Joshua Hay, acknowledged in past hearings that mistakes were made in record keeping.

Meanwhile, Leon County prosecutors and federal investigators are reviewing the settlement and its distribution.

Republican state Representative Alex Andrade led a state House investigation into Hope, Florida, which was later ended after key witnesses failed to testify.

He continued this week to call for accountability while speaking to CBS Miami's Jim Defede.

I absolutely think James should resign as attorney general.

He can't, with a straight face, prosecute anyone else for of misuse of Medicaid funds.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier was governor DeSantis chief of staff before being elevated to his current position.

Uthmeier has defended the political funding transfer as legal and has not been charged with a crime.

Governor DeSantis has also defended Hope Florida, calling the fund transfers voluntary contributions.

Critics, however, warn the diversion of Medicaid dollars could leave taxpayers on the hook for millions in federal repayments and potential IRS penalties.

And Mitch, I'd like to start with you.

This is a story that has so many layers, started several years ago during the Centene settlement with different states.

Then we go to the state of Florida.

Um, what are the latest developments in these layers?

It just seems like a lot to peel back.

Well, you know, this report that came out, actually, uh, hundreds of pages of documents came out after public information requests were made months ago by reporters from the Tampa Bay Times.

Uh, and what we saw, as was mentioned in the setup here, was that Centene itself, the health care company who owed the state money for all this money for years trying to get this negotiation fixed, they were very wary about all of a sudden, this this request to put this extra money in originally $5 million and then doubled to $10 million to these two other groups that we all know later was sent to a political action committee.

And so I think for I think for people who are trying to follow the story along, this is more damning news.

Uh, and you mentioned Jack Campbell, who's in the second, uh, State Attorney's office up in Tallahassee, is investigating.

We haven't heard a thing from him, which I guess is good.

Right, they're just looking into this.

Uh, and so we'll see.

We're going to go James Uthmeier.

You mentioned, uh, governor DeSantis, governor DeSantis saying this is all smear.

This is all BS.

This is all political.

We said earlier on it doesn't look like it is.

And I really think it's important for the taxpayers of Florida to really follow this along.

And to his credit is staying on this.

You know, the session will begin in January.

I would think that, uh, if nothing happens with Jack Campbell, there might be something with his committee.

So story is not going away.

Paul, this really emphasizes the importance of journalists asking for public records requests.

None of this information would be out in the public domain without.>> That's absolutely right.

Florida has a tremendous history of open government, government in the sunshine, based on both open meetings and open records.

And without that tradition, it would be very, very hard to pursue this kind of story.

And it's not designed to make life easy for journalists.

It's designed those laws are designed so that the public can have a real understanding of what's happening, and these records are amazingly revealing about the process that led to this result.

And for the person at home who's thinking, well, maybe it is more of a political smear campaign, give them an idea of what the process is like when a reporter is going through these public records, going through documentation.

What is the conversation from the editor there?

Supervisor.

Where is this information coming from?

Accountability.

Attribution?

Well, the editor is pressing.

How do we know?

That's the basic question.

How do we know this?

And again, the records, as you pointed out earlier, are a real authority on how we know what was happening along the way.

Nobody wanted their fingerprints on this deal from the state.

They were all trying to avoid it.

And Centene was the vendor was insisting that somebody take responsibility for asking for this money to go to the Hope Florida Foundation, which was then funneled on to these political interest groups.

And when you see the meetings that were that were going on, Santin was having meetings with other states.

They were accused of overcharging, overbilling for prescription drugs.

And so they were having conversations about settlements with other states.

And it seemed that they knew that this conversation within the state of Florida was very different.

How do you see all of this, Jennifer?

I think it's just corruption, plain and simple.

It's more corruption from a man who likes to create laws to suit his desires and, um, take money.

That should be public money.

Going back to Medicaid and use it for his own ends, his own political ends.

So you're saying, you know, this isn't necessarily political.

At the end of the day, it is.

He used that money to fight against a constitutional amendment, you know, so or a ballot initiative.

Excuse me.

So, you know, it kind of shows that Governor Ron DeSantis will do anything he wants to do to get what he wants.

What would be the the next move, Mitch, in this that you're looking looking at because you've been doing a number of stories on this.

Yeah.

I'm again, as I mentioned earlier, looking at Jack Campbell, the state attorney, that's who we know for certain one time only.

He said, though that this office is looking at this.

It obviously it may take months and months.

You know, who knows when he'll come up with something.

I hope you know, we all eagerly await that.

I do think, like I mentioned as well, when the legislature gets back in January, they were hot on this and show Andrade he was leading that committee that was looking all into this.

And it kind of abruptly ended right before the session ended.

It's like, okay, it's all over now.

And I think a lot of people were disappointed by that because he was kind of moving along.

There was a narrative that they were showing in real life testimony.

So, you know, it's only a few months away.

Explain later that because he he got that backlash right from so many people asking why it was dropped, and he explained how he was part of a health committee, a committee that was looking into the the the Health administration in Florida, that it was not an investigative Criminal committee.

It wasn't right.

They you know, he tried to subpoena some people and not everybody showed up at those meetings.

But again, I believe he's the chair again, starting in January or actually in the fall when the committee meetings begin.

So I think all eyes go to him as well.

As you saw here.

He's not dropping this.

Obviously, he's still very leading the way in terms of the legislature trying to put a check on this.

He again, he thinks that he's he's calling for an independent investigation.

And, you know, that would be James Meyer calling for that.

And it doesn't look like that's going to happen.

And just to reinforce the obvious, he's a Republican.

Yes, he's a Republican.

So to your question about, uh, you know, the partizan dynamics of this, it is a Republican member of the House who is taking the lead on the oversight of what happened here.

Um, and imagine what would happen if this were a Democratic, uh, deal, or an independent Affiliate.

So so I really think that it's telling that a Republican member of the House is taking the lead on this case, and it will have consequences within the Republican Party as well as the more general electorate.

And it's definitely a story that we'll continue to follow.

Um, pivoting now to our next story.

Look on two fronts when it comes to voting in the state of Florida.

One is on how we vote and the other is on how we're identified.

Here's how both developments could directly impact your future voting experience.

Take a look.

A ban to vote by mail should not apply to Florida.

That's what Governor Ron DeSantis is telling voters as the white House explores ending mail in ballots.

President Donald Trump this week said his administration attorneys are drafting an executive order to eliminate mail in voting.

The governor, responding almost immediately pointed out that other states automatically send out mail in ballots to every voter.

Florida does not.

We require voters to request to vote by mail after each general election every two years.

But Trump, however, has made no such distinction, calling for a blanket ban.

Florida conservative think tank the James Madison Institute calls our state, quote, the gold standard, end quote, for election integrity.

Meanwhile, a more practical issue may trip up many voters at the polls.

Florida recently began issuing driver's licenses with randomized numbers.

That means that longtime voters who renew their license may have a different number associated with their voting record.

Supervisors of elections say that in-person voting will not be affected, but if you request a mail in ballot or sign a petition with a different driver's license number, your request may be rejected.

Officials recommend updating your voter registration as soon as you renew your license.

And I want to start by talking about the mail in ballot and the calls for that to be banned across the country.

Mitch, you were at that press conference when the governor came out and said, we don't need that.

We do things correctly in the state of Florida.

We don't need to ban mail in ballots here.

What was that?

Yeah, he said that because look, Ford well, as you mentioned the setup there, it looks like universal.

That's what DeSantis said that Trump and we don't really know this, by the way, that Trump is really concerned about universal mail ballots where those get automatically sent out to voters, which as you said, we don't do here in Florida.

There's questions of constitutionality, whether whether, you know, this is the thing, usually the states run, not the federal government.

So whether he can actually do this with the executive order, I think is very much up in the air.

But let's look at what you do here in Florida.

Florida has led the way, you could say, and as James Madison Institute, a very conservative organization, said, the gold standard now, people would say it's been the gold standard for several years, going back five years ago before the 2020 election, when all of a sudden people are concerned a lot more about, you know, the election process.

Voting integrity advocates have had a strong say in what goes on in Tallahassee.

We've had consecutive years of really restrictive restrictions on voting here by mail.

We can still do that.

But as you mentioned, you got to request a ballot every time you vote.

Now in a state election, which is new.

So we'll wait and see what happens here.

I think everybody should take a breath here, but some would say that this is another reason.

Why is the president even coming up with this now?

I know he's still upset about 2020.

Uh, but the fact is, is that in other states, we should say, you know, they don't get the returns in on election night like Florida does, because Florida has laws that say that the supervisor of elections can start counting those early mail ballots before the election day.

So when we get that first count coming in at 8:00, 830 eastern time on Friday, on election night, you've got a solid bank of votes there.

Other states, Pennsylvania I'm thinking of specifically, they voted down a measure last year where they could do the same thing.

So it's going to take more days, leading to more paranoia that there's some shenanigans going on.

And, Paul, do you think that most that most readers understand that the power of the elections and how they're run is a local and county and a state issue.

Well, it clearly is a local and state issue.

And our elections here, certainly in the Tampa Bay area and really across the state, have been run very well.

Following the unfortunate episode in 2000, uh, but, uh, and those in the problems were in particular counties not not locally here.

So but these are very local decisions and processes governed by state law.

And while the president takes a very expansive view of what his powers can be, the Constitution is pretty clear that it's state and local government that runs the elections.

Jennifer, do you think this is posturing?

I mean, Trump's folks have to be telling him that this is run at the state and local level.

I mean, it's kind of just like him calling supervisors of elections and asking them to find a few more votes for him.

Right.

This is absolute posturing.

He knows what the laws are, what the Constitution says.

It's just something that he likes to throw in the air to distract from whatever might be going on or to cause chaos.

But what I really wanted to say, on top of the vote by mail and like, yes, we have to re-up every year.

Everyone was removed this year.

We all know that.

But I want to say it one more time for the listening audience.

Everyone in Florida, our governor, was one step ahead of the president in removing everybody from vote by mail.

So if you like that, definitely go register.

I was asking if anyone had received that new driver's license.

Ray, do you have it yet?

I have not, you know, we should make note that the president himself votes by mail, you know, so maybe we'll get a Trump photo op of him in a voting booth during that.

But no, I don't I don't have mine.

Um, and, um, now I'm a little bit confused, right?

I got to do my job and figure it out for myself and figure out for our readers.

But I think that's the saddest part, right?

We live in this state where we respond to so-called election fraud by making people jump through hoops to get their ballots right.

We talked about, you know, citizen driven ballot initiatives that are getting, you know, politicized to all get out there.

You know, there's real legislation.

1205 right.

That affects the way we can collect signatures.

So in Tampa, the governor says, you know, we don't need citizen initiatives.

Legislators can do that, right.

But the fact is people want to vote would disagree.

That's right.

You know, but it's another hurdle for them.

But people who are watching this program, they're going to update their voter registration.

But what about the person who's just like, not watching this right now because they're struggling to survive, right.

Do they know that this doesn't affect in-person voting?

Do they know that they're going to have to do all this stuff?

Are they going to be surprised when that happens?

I think 3 million people voted by mail in Florida.

So what happens to them?

We're turning the voting process into the end of a new medicine commercial.

It's just like that word salad, right?

Everybody's like really confused when people just want to participate in their community and have some autonomy.

And the danger of that is that the political nature has reached such a high level of toxicity that too many people are tuning out.

And and, you know, democracy is not a spectator sport.

We all need to be part of it.

So we're going to move on to the topic of bears.

Florida might be best known for alligators, but it also has a sizable black bear population and it's booming.

So much so that wildlife regulators will open a season to hunt black bears after a decade long pause.

We take a look at the hunt and the court fight that it's triggered.

♪♪ Yes, go tell him there's a bear.

Large bear scaling fences and roaming neighborhoods.

It seems like this that have officials calling a new black bear hunt necessary.

Florida's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says that populations of black bears have grown from 1200 in the 1990s to more than 4000 today.

Human encounters are also growing, including a deadly attack in rural South Florida, where a black bear killed an 89 year old man and his dog this past May.

Just a lot of them getting closer, you know, to families and kids and everything.

Population down.

Yeah.

FWC open season on black bears will run 22 days from December the 6th to the 28th.

In all, 187 permits will be issued by lottery, allowing each hunter, one black bear cubs and mother bears are off limits.

The last hunt in 2015, was halted within 48 hours after 304 bears were called.

The bears are being pushed out of their habitat.

We're building roads through their habitat.

Now, opponents have filed a lawsuit aimed at stopping the bear hunt.

Bear hunt Warriors United says that the commission's rule gives too much power to the executive director and limits public input.

They also question the credibility of the data on the bear population, specifically the data that the FWC is using to approve the hunt.

Meanwhile, other critics say the bear hunt will not stop the human encounters.

The hunts will happen in the woods.

Those bears are not the ones that are coming out.

The date for the court case unfolding in Leon County has not been set, but could be decided in the coming weeks.

Legal experts believe the ruling may redefine the balance between conservation, hunting rights and public input.

Ray, how do you see this?

I mean, it is shocking sometimes to see a bear in your neighborhood, those videos.

But we have to remember in Florida, there's already a law that allows anybody to shoot and kill a bear that they perceive as a threat.

You know, stand your ground against the bear.

So there's that.

Right.

And then, you know, as they mentioned, the data is almost ten years old, so we don't know that public input.

I think 13,000 people responded to the FWC.

Three quarters of them were opposed to the bear hunt here.

Um, so there's that.

And then the bigger thing, I think for me, outside of the implications of this lawsuit, is who's on the FWC Commission, right?

Right.

Before that, you had Gary Nicklaus resign.

He was tied to that State Park kerfuffle, uncomfortable with the bear hunt vote.

And then, you know, the guy that replaced him, Joshua Kellam, he is appointed by the governor, like all the commissioners are.

He's got ties to real estate development and things like that.

Stephen Hudson also involved with that stuff.

Rodney Barreto on his LinkedIn.

It talks about his wins in real estate and development.

So why are people who are in charge of developing land, making decisions about the environment and preservation and things like that?

So, um, like Mitch always reminds me, you know, it's good to pump the brakes and see how it kind of unfolds.

Um, and we'll see what happens with the bears, I guess.

Jennifer, you've talked to us on a number of occasions about the environmental impacts of our decisions.

What did you want to add to this?

I just I think we can use the example of python hunting, lionfish hunting, all of the invasive species.

And those are invasive species, not natural born species.

So, you know, us going out and trying to bring down the population by 100 or whatever is not fixing the problem to raise point.

If you have a bear in your backyard, you can shoot that bear into the lady's point that was on the television.

These hunts are happening out in the woods.

They're not happening.

And residential areas to take care of issues that can already be taken care of if you're able.

So I think it's overreach and sounds like it might be a little bit about development, I don't know.

Well, plenty of folks are looking at this, and we'll continue to look at it.

In the time that we have left.

We normally hit on our panel's big stories of the week, but today we have a special mention thanks to Mr. Paul Tash.

Paul, you've reminded us that this is the 50 year anniversary of the Poynter Institute.

A lot of our residents have no idea the global impact that this organization has.

Well, thanks very much.

And, uh, it all goes back to a guy, a little guy in a bow tie from southern Indiana named Nelson Poynter, who was the last individual to own the St. Petersburg Times Company before it became the Tampa Bay Times.

And Mr. Poynter wanted to do two things past his own mortality.

He wanted to preserve the local independence of the newspaper, The Times.

He thought every town deserved a newspaper that loved it best, and he didn't want the time to become part of a chain.

And he also wanted to create a school that would lead to the betterment of journalists.

Work with organizations all over.

Including WEDU here.

Yes, uh, and the Poynter Institute is one of the leading institutions in support of journalism that supports democracy.

It works, uh, with, uh, all kinds of companies.

Uh, it works with individual journalists.

Journalists come in from all over the world to tour and to speak with experts at the Poynter Institute.

They do, and Poynter increasingly reaches out.

it has a global reach.

One of the great advantages of the web is that its work can extend far beyond Florida and the United States, so the Poynter Institute has become one of the leading institutions.

It's a local gem that is sometimes better known outside the Tampa Bay area and around the world than it is here at home.

Well, thank you for helping us change that.

We certainly hope to do that.

The Poynter Institute, a Tampa Bay treasure.

Thank you so much.

That's it for us.

That's all the time that we have.

Again, thanks to our panel members, Paul Tash, Ray Roa, Mitch Perry and Jennifer Griffith.

Another reminder to you to join us next Friday for our special tribute program to Rob Lorei.

Please join us on August the 29th at 8:30 p.m. as WEDU reflects on Rob's legacy and his impact.