>>This week on NewsNight, a look at the economic prospects for Florida in 2023 as fears of a U.S. recession this year grow.

Ron DeSantis is sworn in for a second term as Florida governor as he builds his national profile.

And should there be a clarification to a law to offer benefits to firefighters suffering from cancer?

NewsNight starts now.

(MUSIC) Hello, I'm Steve Mort and welcome to NewsNight, where we take a closer look at the big stories impacting central Florida and how they affect all of us.

Joining us this week in the studio Carla Ray, investigative reporter and anchor for WFTV, Channel 9.

Thanks for coming in, Karla.

Appreciate it.

And Talia Blake covers the economy for 90.7 WMFE.

Thank you for coming in, Talia I appreciate it.

Well, amid all the chaos in Washington, it was also a busy week in Tallahassee.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis delivered a short inaugural address on Tuesday outlining his conservative agenda after being sworn in on a bible borrowed from talk radio host Glenn Beck.

The governor is widely tipped as a favorite for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, with some polls showing him leading Donald Trump in a head to head contest.

In his inaugural speech, DeSantis touted his record on spending, education, the environment, COVID and taking on the federal government on issues like immigration.

And he drove home familiar themes around freedom and taking on woke ideology.

>>We reject this woke ideology.

We seek normalcy, not philosophical lunacy.

We will not allow reality, facts and truth to become optional.

We will never surrender to the woke mob.

Florida is where woke goes to die.

Over the past few years, as so many states in our country grinded their citizens down.

We in Florida lifted our people up.

When other states consign their people's freedom to the dustbin, Florida stood strongly as freedom's linchpin when the world lost its mind.

When commonsense suddenly became an uncommon virtue, Florida was a refuge of sanity, a citadel of freedom for our fellow Americans and even for people around the world.

>>But some Democrats say the governor's address amounts to more of the same.

>>I heard absolutely nothing in the governor's speech that would demonstrate a new policy direction, more culture wars is what I got out of the speech.

And in fact, the only line of his speech that even got a note - notable applause was Florida's Where Woke Goes to Die, which again is a line he's used before.

And it just speaks to the culture wars.

It doesn't actually speak to affordable housing or property insurance or the exodus of educators or schools or climate change.

It's purely designed for more culture wars, as he sees that as his pathway to run for president in 2024.

>>Anna Eskamani.

Okay, Karla, let me start with you on this one.

I mean, the governor's address sort of seemed to encapsulate, right.

A lot of what we've heard during his first term woke indoctrination and that kind of thing.

Is this an indication, do you think, that we can expect more of this in a second term?

>>I mean, I think that we are used to hearing these buzzwords now in Florida, and he has really risen to a level of prominence in the national media as well.

I think you hit on it in the story there that he is, you know, a serious potential candidate for the Republican primary as we look toward who will become the Republican candidate for president next year.

So I think that he is not just trying to play to Florida, but he's using the language that was really successful for Donald Trump on a national scale.

And I think people in the middle part of our country, you know, the very red states are paying attention to him in a way that we haven't seen previously.

>>We heard from Representative Eskamani there on on the Democratic side.

Does that sort of broadly represent the sentiment of Democrats when it comes to the response to that address?

>>Yeah, You know, they thought he could have been more inspiring and instead he decided to talk about a lot of the things that he's been touting over this past year, woke ideology, etc..

They thought he could have talked about fixing the issues just kind of like Eskamani had said.

He didn't really address affordable housing or anything like that.

He kind of just spoke about a lot of the buzzwords he's been using.

But just like Karla also mentioned, he is kind of a Republican contender for president.

And Democrats kind of thought he they used that DeSantis used his inauguration speech to gain more points for that presidential run.

>>And that's been one of the criticisms that they've leveled at him throughout his first term, that he's not addressing what they see as the big issues.

On some of the specific issues, Karla, I mean, the governor did talk about his record on schools.

Could we see more action, do you think, on influencing school boards and school policy going forward?

That's been a big priority.

>>Really bragging about educational freedom, this idea of parental involvement in the state education.

You know, we talked about this last year with the CRT conversation and-- >>Critical race theory.

>>Yes.

And the indoctrinating kids that, you know, these are buzzwords, again, that he would use a lot in his public speeches.

And now the idea of flipping school boards, I think he's been quoted as saying that he is looking more on the ground level of of how do we influence our state education on a local level and and looking at candidates that he can illuminate, that's the word that he used is illuminating these candidates in races where he thinks that maybe the school board currently doesn't reflect the values that he believes should be put forth in our schools.

>>Obviously seeing an opportunity there because a lot of those efforts that he made to flip school boards in the midterms paid off.

So something that maybe he wants to look at again.

Next, let me play this clip of the governor talking about how he'd push for more family friendly policies.

Take a listen.

>>Florida must always be a great place to raise a family.

We will enact more family friendly policies to make it easier to raise children.

And we will defend our children against those who seek to rob them of their innocence.

>>Those remarks come as the state looks into a number of holiday themed drag shows, including one in Orlando that drew protesters just after Christmas.

We heard from the governor, so let's hear from the other side again.

I asked Representative Eskamani about the drag show issue.

>>The most recent attacks on drag shows in Orlando and in other parts of the state are not taking place in an isolated fashion.

This is tied to a much larger anti LGBTQ plus agenda being pushed by our governor as a means to create moral panic.

It's the same type of moral panic that we've seen in past generations.

It's reminiscent of the same anti LGBTQ plus tropes we saw in the seventies and eighties.

And it's very dangerous because not only does it continue to divide us, but it pushes LGBTQ plus people back into the closet after years of being marginalized and now finally hitting a place where we are becoming more inclusive, more accepted.

I suspect that that we will see policy in this in this homophobic and transphobic arena, this legislative session.

>>Talia, firstly, what do we know about this drag event that we were talking about there at the Plaza Live?

And what is the state concerned about?

>>Right.

So this was a drag queen Christmas.

And I do want to note that this isn't the first year that this drag show has come.

This is, I believe, the eighth year it was returning to Orlando.

So not the first time that this show has come about, but for some reason, a lot of protests this year.

Now, a lot of the concern among conservatives was that when you went to the ticket page to buy a ticket for this event, it said “All Ages Welcome.

” So there was a big concern about young children and younger teens attending the event to the point where the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation even threatened the plaza, sent them a letter, kind of threatening them that they'll violate their alcohol license if the young children attend this event, even though from the past there hasn't really been children at the event as far as people can see.

So not really sure where the concern came then.

>>And Channel 9 attended and said they didn't see much in the way of evidence of children being there, right, Karla?

Are lawmakers expecting legislative movement on this issue now?

I mean, we heard from Anna Eskamani she thinks that there will be a legislative move maybe to ban on adults from these shows.

>>And that is actually happening in other states as well.

And to me, it reminds me of what we saw over the last few years with the the legislative movement against transgender athletes in schools where we'll see almost identical or very similar legislation pop up in more conservative states where it becomes a talking point.

And like what we saw with the transgender athlete legislation, this is going after a problem that doesn't really exist.

I don't think that there are children going to these drag shows according to the people that we spoke to for that story.

So it seems like, again, it's just it's maybe just a buzz word situation that that people in more conservative states want to use as a talking point this year.

So this I think 2023 is the year of of drag shows, whereas what we saw in 2022 and 2021, looking at transgender athletes.

>>Itll be certainly very interesting to see what happens on that issue going forward.

A very busy legislative session, I'm sure.

Ahead, be sure to join this conversation on social media, were at WUCFTV on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

All right.

Next tonight, COVID cases are once again rising in some parts of the US, including Florida, with vaccine booster uptake in the state standing at around 10%.

The CDC says cases increased by about 6,000 over the holidays.

Experts say that it's likely a significant undercount, while the governor, in his address this week touted Florida's economic strengths and referred to his record of eshewing COVID restrictions when many states locked businesses down.

But as NewsNights Krystel Knowles reports, the knock on effect of the pandemic and other factors continue to pose challenges for Florida businesses.

>>The odds are stacked against non chain restaurants.

A leading industry group calculates about 60% of restaurants will close during the first year of business and of those that survive, about 80% will have to shut down within five years.

Now, as COVID cases surge again in some places, the ongoing global ripple effects of the pandemic are doing nothing to improve the situation in a highly competitive industry.

Nancy Alva and her family opened a Puerto Rican restaurant called Latin Flavor in 2016, featuring her mother's recipes.

>>The main challenges were getting people to come to our doors.

That was the main challenge and get a name established because this it's a new restaurant.

Nobody knows what it what it is, what we do.

And of course, we even have we're we're starting with a very few amount of money.

And so we opened up the doors.

People start coming in and we're we're really lucky because people start there like our concept.

>>But when COVID hit, Latin flavor had to close its doors four months.

According to the National Restaurant Association.

Food service businesses made $864 billion in 2019, but that number plunged as the industry lost about 90,000 restaurants through the pandemic, 80% more than in an average year.

>>The challenge that really defined whether we stay in business or we have to close the doors, customers stop coming in because they were fear COVID.

A lot of the employees left because they were also fear of COVID.

So we left with only family members working.

We also we fear COVID, but we try to keep ourselves because this is our only income, and all our family really depends on it.

And it was difficult when the prices started going up and we have less customers coming in.

We were very happy, very fortunate to have the resilience to keep going every day.

>>Even though the food service industry is now projected to grow steadily.

It's facing strong headwinds, including inflation and the possibility of a recession this year.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the price of eating out has increased nearly 9% over the past 12 months due to rising cost of labor and food.

And as COVID cases skyrocket in China, supply chain disruptions continue to pose a significant challenge.

Alva says she's forced to pass some of her increased costs onto her customers and says finding staff still remains hard.

>>It's really difficult with the costs going up, with the lack of employees a hard job.

It is a lot of hard job in and it's difficult and it's difficult.

>>Krystel Knowles reporting there.

Talia let me come to you first on this one.

I mean inflation has declined a little, right, but it still remains high in Florida.

That poses a trouble for individuals and businesses.

You talk to a lot of economists.

What are they telling you about the prospects in Florida for 2023?

>>You know, for Florida, we're pretty optimistic.

Nationally, we are on the brink or already in a recession, a shallow recession, nothing like the housing crisis of 2008 or anything like that, but a very shallow recession, as UCF economist Sean Snaith puts it, pasta bowl recession because is going to be shallow and we'll have a gradual recovery out, just kind of like a pasta bowl.

But in Florida, they're not expecting the economy to contract.

We're actually expecting that GDP likely won't fall.

Unemployment maybe creeps up a little bit, but nothing like we saw during the pandemic.

>>Interesting.

I mean, the consumer sentiment in our state, how does that look?

I mean, there was a there's been some surveys of that recently.

I think by UF.

I mean, how do consumers view the state of the economy in our state?

>>Optimistic, surprisingly, even after two hurricanes, they're pretty optimistic that UF survey that you're mentioning actually said that consumer confidence was up almost two points.

And we know that the more confident a consumer, the better for our economy, the more money coming back into our economy.

>>Interestingly, those hurricanes actually apparently generated revenue for for for the state coffers.

So so the state coffers in pretty good shape at the moment.

I mean, Karla, energy is one of those costs, right, that is rising in Florida in the new year.

What can businesses and households expect in their bills?

>>Yes.

So we are going to see an increase for FPL and Duke customers for sure, because they went to the Public Service Commission, requested a rate increase.

So for FPL customers, it's estimated to be about $5 extra for every thousand kilowatt hour usage.

So not a huge increase.

But for Duke customers, it's looking like about $20 for that same increase.

And when people are on fixed budgets, yeah, that makes a difference.

>>When budgets are tight or you're sort of living paycheck to paycheck for sure.

I mean, staying on energy prices.

Talia, the toll relief program begin began January 1st, but we're seeing a surge in gas prices right after the holidays.

Could get a lot of that benefit be outweighed.

It's possible.

I want to say earlier this week, AAA reported that Florida's gas prices about $0.06 over the national average at $3.29.

Officials think that this toll road savings program is going to save people anywhere from 400 to $500 for the year.

Right.

But if we do a little math, which we're going to do real quick, if we just do a little math, if you're filling up, say, a 16 gallon tank at $3.29, you're spending a little over or a little under $53 to fill up your tank.

If depending on your commute to work, you might be filling up once a week.

That $400 in savings is gone in a few months.

You know, you're not really feeling that anymore.

>>Certainly four or $500 sounds like a lot, but it could easily be eaten up pretty quickly by by that increase in gas prices you mentioned.

Karla, you and I talked about your reporting on the housing market last year.

Florida seeing this massive influx of residents and investors that's sort of fueled this market.

But, you know, as the Fed hikes interest rates and prices drop, what are the prospects in the housing market for this year?

>>They always say marry the house and date the rate.

So I think that people are still buying in Florida and hoping to refi later.

And because of that, I really don't see our housing prices coming down.

According to the experts that I've talked to, maybe a little bit, but not a sharp decrease for for housing prices despite those high rates and low inventory.

I mean, it's just not it's just not changing here in Florida because it's such a popular place to move to.

>>I mean, I guess as if prices are coming down, that might attract more of those investors that your reporting has covered.

>>Right.

And they'll come in and they'll pay cash and ride out the storm, so to speak, because they're not getting into an interest rate that's at six or 7% because they're paying cash for these properties.

So it doesn't affect those investors the way it would a first or second time home buyer.

>>Let me ask you, Talia, about one of the points that Krystel made in her pieces, which was about this sort of the supply chain.

I mean, we're seeing this massive surge in COVID cases in China now.

Can that have a knock on effect on our economy here?

>>Yeah, just like you said, supply chain issues.

A lot of our products and goods come from China.

If they don't have the staff to work and fill those orders, we're not going to get them in time.

So supply chain issues, just like you said, that's going to affect our economy, whether Covid's surging here or surging there.

>>And talking about COVID Karla, I mean, the data show that, you know, even before the holidays, you know, COVID cases were surging in Florida and around the country, that's likely an undercount, I think, because as I mentioned before, people are testing at home now.

But that didn't seem to quell travel over the holidays.

Right.

What do we see locally here in Florida when it came to holiday travel?

>>Yeah.

And as a new parent, I have to say it's actually a triple-demic.

We've got COVID, flu, RSV, there's all kind of stuff out there right now.

But we still saw those long lines out at the Orlando International Airport.

Early numbers showed that they were up 8% from the year before as far as the number of people passing through.

And then add in the Southwest, you know, drama that happened over the last week.

You know, it was it was a lot of crowds and in small places for long periods of time.

So I think that we'll see the numbers spike again.

>>And as we know, the federal government is investigating Southwest and that fiasco that you mentioned over the holidays.

Well, you can find a link to the National Restaurant Association's 2022 State of the Industry report on our websites at wucf.org/newsnight.

Well, finally tonight, we wanted to talk about an investigative story that Karla put together recently for Channel 9.

She's tracking the cases of a number of firefighters have been forced to go to court to get help under a 2019 law designed to pay out benefits to firefighters diagnosed with job related cancer.

At the heart of the issue, whether the law is retroactive.

>>9 Investigates has told you about two separate lawsuits, one involving a former Volusia County firefighter, Kathleen Weaver, and the other involving current Orlando District chief Scott Sully, both fighting for a one time $25,000 payout for their diagnoses of job related cancer, along with costs of medical treatment.

>>Where does it stop?

The city denies our our case.

What are the next cases that that they will deny or and not just the city, but the municipalities throughout the state.

>>The question for of the courts in both cases is whether those firefighters are entitled to the benefits under a 2019 Florida law, even though they were diagnosed before the law went into place.

We took that question to the state fire marshal and CFO Jimmy Patronis who in 2019 backed the efforts to pass the law in Tallahassee.

>>The way the law was written was was was a prospective account by my interpretation.

>>But as the fire marshal notes, there are lingering questions about retroactivity and case by case.

Cities, counties or courts are the appropriate place to handle them, adding that any time a statute is brought in front of lawmakers, it has the potential to become even more restrictive.

>>It can be taken advantage of.

It could be shrunk.

It could be expanded.

Anything can happen when you bring out the legislation into the Florida legislature.

>>The judge in Scott Sully's case interpreted the statute was intended to apply even to those firefighters who were diagnosed before the statutes enactment.

But the city of Orlando was granted a stay in the case while Kathleen Weaver's case continued through appeals court.

>>You know, the problem you've got is what about the ones in 2017?

What about the ones 2016?

There becomes a point where you run out of money.

>>All right.

Nice piece, Karla.

The fifth District Court of Appeals denied a request for a rehearing in Kathleen Weaver's case.

Right.

So what's next?

>>So this is the case that a lot of other cases in our state we're waiting on the results from because it went to appeals court.

So because of that, you know, her attorneys really don't think that they have a shot to get it before the Florida Supreme Court.

They don't think that it's an issue that the state Supreme Court would really be interested in.

So they're now looking at other avenues to bring her some relief, possibly through a workman's comp claim.

But what this will do, it will have a trickle down effect on some of these other cases.

There was a case out of the Saint Pete area where the municipality already paid the benefits to a firefighter for a retroactive claim similar to Weaver and Sully's cases.

The Orlando case involving firefighter Scott Sully, who you heard from in that piece.

That one is still in limbo, so to speak.

It's on a stay until the results of the Weaver case are put into the court records.

So that should come up again here soon.

>>We heard from the chief financial officer there, Jimmy Patronis, in your piece.

He seemed hesitant, right, to open this up for for more legislative discussion.

I mean, why would that be?

>>It's kind of what he said, that once you bring it to the floor in Tallahassee, anything can happen.

Things can be changed that make it even more restrictive.

Right now, it covers 21 enumerated cancers.

What if they whittled that down to 15?

What if they whittle it down to ten?

What if they make the amount, which is a $25,000 one time payout, bring that down to 20,000.

So he doesn't want it to negatively impact firefighters to bring it back in front of the legislature potentially.

>>You never know what's going to happen on the floor of the legislature.

I mean, you've talked to families whose loved ones died before they could see the benefits of this law.

What do they want to see change?

What could we see happen with regards to them?

>>I think what they really want to get out there is the idea that firefighting does cause cancer in many cases.

They want it to be just seen as an occupational hazard of the job more, you know, internationally and not just on a local level where these firefighters are having to fight in court to prove that their cancer was caused by their job.

So they just really want a reckoning, so to speak, of the dangers of the job.

>>I mean, what are those sort of dangers of the job?

I mean, we've sort of talked on the show a little bit before about some of the some of the chemicals that firefighters get exposed to, PFOS chemicals and things.

I mean, this is a risky job.

What are some of the things that they say that their loved ones face?

>>Yeah, it's not just risky because you're running into a burning building, right.

And you're facing that physical danger.

But the carcinogens that that get stuck on thier - on their uniforms.

And there's a lawsuit actually pending right now with 3M, which is the maker of some of those uniforms that are used in firehouses across the country, saying it doesn't do enough to off gas and get rid of those chemicals and putting putting the men and women who work in those stations at greater risk every single day.

>>Yeah.

Do the firefighting authorities have anything to say about this?

I mean, obviously, they're likely to to not say much, given that this is all in the courts at the moment.

But do we know where the agencies stand?

>>You know, it's it's really interesting because I think that in in the public eye, everybody supports firefighters, Right?

You know, all of our first responders, everybody is willing to back them.

And they feel like when it comes to something like this, dealing with their health that they've been forgotten about and that the public facade of support for firefighters isn't actually there when it comes to making these claims.

And, you know, $25,000 is not a large payout in terms of the entire state budget.

So for them to have to fight for it, they really feel degraded after years of public service.

>>And 25,000 might not be very much when it comes to medical bills to not being able to work anymore in that case.

>>Right.

The medical bills are another part of it.

So they they are entitled to tip payment for some of their medical costs.

But you're right.

I mean, if they if they are being taken out of the fire service because they can't work anymore because of a work related injury of cancer, then that is is much more than $25,000.

>>Well, really interesting reporting and I'm sure you'll keep across it over there at Channel 9.

Thank you, Karla.

That is all the time we have for this week.

My thanks to Karla Ray WFTV, Channel 9 investigative reporter, Talia Blake from 90.7 WMFE News.

Thank you so much for coming in, guys.

Really appreciate it.

We'll see you next Friday night at 8:30 here on WUCF in the meantime, for all of us here at NewsNight, take care and have a great week.