>>This week on NewsNight, Florida lawmakers prepare for the regular legislative session as the governor tours the state and the nation outlining his agenda.

A look at what the Republican supermajority may deliver on issues ranging from education to guns to banking.

And Ukrainians in Florida mark one year since the Russian invasion of their country.

NewsNight starts now.

[MUSIC] Hello, I'm Steve Mort and welcome to NewsNight.

We begin tonight with a story that has deeply affected our own journalism community here in central Florida.

The death of Spectrum News 13 reporter Dylan Lyons.

He and photojournalist Jesse Walden were shot while covering a story of a shooting death which took place earlier in the day Wednesday in Pine Hills.

Lyons, along with a nine year old child, were both killed, while the child's mother and Walden remain in a critical condition.

Police have in custody the suspect suspected in both shootings.

I want to bring in our panel now.

Curtis McCloud is from Spectrum News 13.

Thank you so much for coming in during this difficult time.

Curtis.

Really appreciate it.

And we've also got Skyler Swisher with us from the Orlando Sentinel.

Thanks so much for coming in.

Skyler.

Let me first read a statement, if I could, from Charter Communications, which owns Spectrum News 13, your station, Curtis.

We are deeply saddened by the loss of our colleague and the other lives senselessly taken today.

That was Wednesday.

Our thoughts are with our employees, family, friends and coworkers during this very difficult time.

We remain hopeful that our other colleague who was injured makes a full recovery.

This is a terrible tragedy for the Orlando community.

Curtis, first of all, from everyone here at WUCF, we just want to send our deepest condolences to you guys at 13.

You're a wonderful team and we always enjoy working with you almost on a on a weekly basis.

So.

So our thoughts are with you there.

Tell us a little about Dylan, if you can, as a colleague.

>>You know, I'll be very brief and just tell you that, you know, we all we are we're a team.

And Dylan was more than a colleague.

He is a part of our family at News 13, and we all knew and loved Dylan.

His work ethic, his energy, his, his journalistic acumen was unmatched.

And he was a true, true journalist at heart and someone that we all treasured in our newsroom.

>>How is the News 13 family doing today?

We're recording this on Thursday morning.

So obviously, things are still pretty raw for you guys and talk about how your team is able to cover a story like this when it's so deeply personal for many of you guys.

>>Well, as you mentioned, this is very fresh and very, very, very close to, you know, everything that that just happened.

We were all there.

And, you know, we try to do our best.

And, you know, because there is the task at hand to report to our communities and let them know what's going on.

But at the same time, as a grieving family, you know, there's that part of it, too.

It's, you know, it's hard to put into words, but I commend our team and my thoughts and prayers are with Dylan's family, with our other colleague, our father, our family member, Jesse, as well as also the the other victims involved in this tragedy, that nine year old and nine year olds mother as well as a 20 year old, that was also shot during yesterday's tragedy.

>>Yeah, Skyler let me bring you in on on this discussion.

I mean, the suspect is is alleged to have fired shots into a News 13 vehicle which wasn't marked as a as a news car.

So it's unclear if the journalist was sort of targeted as part of their profession.

But this does kind of speak, doesn't it, to the risks that journalists take on a regular basis when they go about their work?

>>Absolutely.

I mean, first off, you know, I like to say the Orlando Sentinel, you know, stands with News 13, and we definitely express our condolences as well.

But, yes, I mean, as reporters, this is this is a daily risk that we take.

And if you think about journalism, I mean, there are reporters in Ukraine right now covering a war, and this is information that needs to get out.

I mean, atrocities happening in that country and every day are putting their lives on the line.

So it's definitely something that's part of the job.

And, you know, also, I mean, just during my brief career, you know, I mean, I've covered Parkland.

I've covered Pulse.

I've covered a mass shooting at the Fort Lauderdale Airport.

So these gun violence, it's just a recurring story that that that touches everyone.

>>It's a recurring issue for sure in our state.

Curtis, there has been a huge outpouring of support from journalists, from sort of outlets here and all around the country.

There was even a statement from the White House.

Talk about the response that this tragedy has had in our community, but also nationwide.

>>Yeah, you know, anytime you hear something like this, especially someone someone doing their job and it's devastating.

We have heard from, you know, a number of different municipalities here, the governor's office, as well as different law enforcement offices.

And we are so grateful for the - to everyone that's reached out to us, the sheriff's offices, everybody worldwide continue the support.

We do appreciate and I know that the families really appreciate that as well.

>>Well, we wish you all all the best in the days coming forward.

And we'll certainly be talking about this in the weeks to come.

A reminder that we are recording this program, as I mentioned, on Thursday morning, and things can change by airtime.

But as every journalist knows, there's never a let up in the news.

So we'll continue to look at the upcoming Florida legislative session, which is just around the corner and follows a consequential special session for our region.

I sat down this week with one of our regular political science contributors, Frank Orlando from Saint Leo University to discuss it all and Governor Desantis's expected presidential bid.

We started by talking about the changes to the board of Disney's Reedy Creek Improvement District enacted in the special session and whether the governor got what he wanted.

>>I think the special session overall and in particular with this legislation was what the governor wanted.

And I think that there were a lot of people that thought that maybe this was a ploy, it would be a back down.

But it was quite a bit of follow through on the original plan of what the governor wanted.

And the legislature, even members from that area did not push back strenuously, at least members of the governor's party.

>>Do you think we can expect more red meat in the regular session?

And what do you what will you be looking for in terms of what we might expect from the Republican supermajority?

>>Yeah, well, good point.

And first of all, talking about their supermajority, this is the largest majority Republicans have had in the House, in the Senate, in Florida in a long time.

I think the things that you'll see more contention about will be things like the constitutional carry.

You'll probably see things for sure on the school voucher program.

I think you'll also hear probably push forward on legislating or putting into the law restrictions on some of the minor treatment for transgender, gender affirming care, which the governor got through the bureaucracy, but members of the legislature want to put into the law.

>>The governor himself, he's trying to raise his national profile as he sort of pushes this conservative agenda in Florida ahead of the regular session.

But can he wait much longer before declaring a run for president if he intends to run?

>>I think he can wait until late spring.

Late spring to early, very early summer.

I think that the idea there is there are donors that are on the sidelines that are waiting to make sure there are people on the sidelines that are waiting to jump in.

And there's been some speculation that some of the attacks that President Trump has been making lately on Governor DeSantis have been motivated by the fact that he's going back to some of the people that he's worked with in the past.

And they're saying, well, we're waiting to see what Governor DeSantis does.

>>As former President Trump really ramps up almost daily now with the number of attacks that he's making on on the Florida governor.

Do you think that there's a danger that that DeSantis support could erode?

>>I do think there are people that are always Trump to the core in the president's coalition.

I think there's more of them in the rank and file than there are in terms of the activist donor class.

So I think there will be some erosion of of Governor DeSantis support.

But I think that the reason why we've seen him be so aggressive on all of these red meat, social issues in some of these fights and the battles he picks is to gain the credibility with that group.

And we're about to see if it pays off.

I think he thinks he's made some moves to keep that group and gain the donors.

>>Frank Orlando there from Saint Leo University.

Skyler, let me start with you on this one and we'll touch on the special session first, beginning with Disney, which is a story that you've covered extensively.

The company now says it will accept those changes to the Special district board that we've talked about on on this program before.

Why would the company be so willing to sort of work within the framework that the legislature came up with?

>>Well, it's a little bit difficult to discern because, you know, they've said very little publicly.

But what some of the speculation is, is that they're making a calculation here and they don't want people they don't want Disney World to become a political lightning rod.

I mean, they want people to think about the teacups.

They don't want people to be thinking about it as this hot button political issue.

So maybe the calculation is, is that, you know, you play ball with the governor and just try to get out of the news cycle.

>>Because they they they want to, I guess, to continue to have a relationship with the legislature because there's a lot of legislation that they will continue to want to lobby on.

Correct?

>>Absolutely.

I mean, and in some ways, the legislature has been friendly to Disney when it comes to, you know, corporate tax breaks and issues like that.

>>Curtis, the session removed some of the obstacles, too, to some of the governor's priorities.

Right.

And the state is already using the legislature's actions to back down those legal challenges to the migrant flights that we saw late last year.

How does the legislation that give the state cover?

>>You know, this was something that, you know, we saw talked about even before there was a super majority in the House and Senate there in Tallahassee and figured that this would potentially happen.

And now we're seeing it come into fruition.

And essentially what it does here now is it does almost give them I don't want to say a blanket, but it covers some of the actions and it's kind of like a it gives them a chance to kind of backpedal here.

When he did, you know, use what we know to be taxpayer dollars or I should say, state funding to kind of send up to do those migrant flights.

Now, this, you know, kind of pilfer that money off a bit into different accounts here.

And so it kind of, you know, puts our failsafe and say, now we've allocated this money for a specific resource, thus making it more so, you know, more so.

So I don't want to say use the word, okay.

But saying that, hey, now that this money can be allocated for this specific funding, like it has a line item now, and I think this is kind of a catch all, if you will, for the governor.

>>A bit of legal cover, yes.

Skyler, briefly, the other issue that the legislature took action on in the special session was giving the statewide prosecutor more power over election related crimes, right?

What might that mean for former felons who were arrested last year but have yet to go on trial?

It must make their cases harder, right?

>>Yeah, it does, because some of these cases have been dismissed on the grounds that the statewide prosecutor did not have jurisdiction over those cases.

What the legislature did was clarify that and said that statewide prosecutor does have jurisdiction.

So, I mean, that does take away one of your legal defenses and might make, you know, defendant more likely to agree to a settlement.

>>And we'll certainly see how those those cases progress moving forward.

Much more to be discussed as the session proceeds.

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

Well, as we discussed with Frank Orlando, the special session is over and they were just a few days before lawmakers gather for the regular session starting on March 8th.

In recent weeks, Governor DeSantis has been up and down the state, setting his wish list for the session.

It includes tort reform, fighting so-called woke banking, a digital bill of rights, and a defamation bill that we discussed last week on the show.

It's an agenda expected to get the approval of the Republican supermajority that Curtis referred to in Tallahassee and as students at several public universities, including UCF stage walkoutss the governor has also promised more reforms to the state's education system.

The governor's proposed legislation aimed at making diversity, equity and inclusion and critical race theory programs at the state's higher education institutions, quote, wither on the vine.

He's also engaged in a feud with the College Board following the state's decision to reject the board's AP African American Studies course.

The state said it lacked educational value and pushed a political agenda.

The governor's now suggested the legislature might take action to reevaluate the use of advanced placement courses and even the College Board's SATs in Florida.

>>We highlighted things that were very problematic, and I tell you, it wasn't just people like me saying that across the political spectrum.

People were saying that like, you know, this really is junk.

Why don't we just do and teach the things that matter?

Why is it always someone has to try to jam their agenda down our throats?

>>The College Board, in a statement, hit back at what it called a repulsive attack on black scholars, saying “Our commitment to AP African-American studies is unwavering.

” The board also says it should have acted sooner to counter Florida's rejection of its course, writing “We deeply regret not immediately denouncing the Florida Department of Education slander, magnified by the DeSantis administration's subsequent comments that African-American studies lacks educational value.

Our failure to raise our voice betrayed black scholars everywhere and those who've long toiled to build this remarkable field.

” All right, Curtis, let me begin with you on this one.

The governor objected specifically to the inclusion of queer theory, intersectionality, what he calls neo-Marxist ideas in that AP course.

The College Board put out that defense that we just heard, but they did strip down the course, right?

>>They did.

They did.

They did strip down the course.

But be clear now that they did say that they didn't do this for what Governor DeSantis and the Florida Department of Education is wanting them to do.

They did this on their own just to clean up some things.

And they had sought advice from a lot of a lot of sources, a lot of professionals, educational professionals throughout the country, just to make sure that the course was, you know, pretty much thorough and making sure that a lot of the courses were in line with, you know, things that that were being taught.

Of course, you know, that students would know.

And I think that here what we're seeing is not a course correction for for AP, but more so something that's kind of given to streamline things a bit more and not something that they were doing just because of what the governor suggested.

Because as we saw, those changes that were put in place were not what the governor necessarily would agree to.

>>Right.

Skyler, is this a new front, do you think, in the culture wars?

And do we have any idea what might happen next in Florida's relationship with the College Board?

>>Yeah, I mean, it's definitely a new front in the culture war and one that Governor DeSantis has really been focusing on.

He hasn't said specifically what might happen next.

But there's been some reporting that top state education officials are meeting with a the critical learning test, which is kind of an alternative to the SAT, and that might be an option available to Florida students.

>>Which sort of has some may say a more conservative slant to it.

The Miami Herald doing a lot of that reporting-- >>Exactly.

>>That you referred to there.

Let's talk about some of the other proposed legislation for the regular session.

I want to start with guns.

First, listen to this from President Biden during his recent State of the Union address.

>> ”Do something.

” That was the plea of parents who lost their children in Uvalde, I met with every one of them.

“Do something about gun violence.

” Thank God.

Thank God we did.

Passing the most sweeping gun safety law in three decades.

That includes things like, that the majority of responsible gun owners already support enhanced background checks for 18 to 21 year olds, red flag laws keeping guns out of the hands of people who are a danger to themselves and others.

But we know our work is not done.

>>President Biden there, the gun issue obviously very apparent in our community this week.

Curtis, as we've been talking about, how do the president's demands kind of contrast with what Florida lawmakers are likely to do this session on guns?

>>You know, and especially what we're we're likely to see with it already passing certain committees and certain things like that.

I believe that, you know, it's almost like they're polar opposites here.

The president wants to see make it a little bit more tougher, more gun gun laws so that you can kind of weed out the the bad apples, so to speak.

Florida on the other on the other sense, it's a little bit different.

It's kind of saying, hey, you know, there are things happening and we want people to have access to guns to protect themselves.

So therefore you don't have to jump through so many hoops and hurdles to gain access to to to gun ownership, to be a gun owner with it, basically saying, you know, yes, you'll still have to have certain permits to actually carry a gun, but getting a gun is what they're trying to basically make a little bit easier here in the state of Florida without having certain checks and checks and balances, so to speak, that you have to have here in the state to, again, gain access to a gun.

You heard the president there say, you know, hey, we need to get a hold on this, essentially saying that they're going to be they're calling for tougher screening so that individuals, whether it be mental health reasons, whether it be violence-- >>The red flag laws.

>>Red flag laws, things that we'll put into place to weed out those individuals who maybe shouldn't shouldn't be gun owners.

>>And of course, we did have a red flag law implemented after the Parkland shooting here in in Florida.

Skyler, lawmakers have been discussing this this permit-less carry issue this week.

But some pro-gun groups are upset this legislation doesn't go far enough.

And what do they want?

>>Yeah, and I've been interviewing several gun rights advocates and they've been at these hearings and they're opposed to this bill.

Actually, they're accusing the Republican politicians here in Tallahassee of lying to them.

And the reason why is that this bill basically makes the permitting process optional to carry a concealed weapon, But you have to conceal the weapon.

What they would like to see is what's called open carry, where you could basically openly carry a firearm.

And that is not in this bill.

>>That doesn't go far enough as far as they're concerned.

Let me just ask you also, Skyler, about insurance.

The GOP wants to limit lawsuits in Florida this session.

Why do they say that tort reform is needed, especially when it comes to insurance and how the Democrats view this effort?

>>So their position is, is that the the legal climate here in Florida is bad for business, that litigation is out of control and there needs to be something put in place to rein that in.

The argument against it from Democrats is that, you know, one of the avenues available kind of to the little guy, if they're harmed by a corporation, is to file a lawsuit.

So they're saying, you know, we shouldn't be making it harder for people to sue and that this could actually hurt the ability of the public to to receive compensation if they're harmed.

>>Yeah.

Curtis, let me just finish with you on this this session.

We had a House hearing this week on on transgender care for for minors.

There's a bill on, on defamation which, which I mentioned a little earlier in the program.

All of this adds up, right, as I think Frank Orlando mentioned there is as to what to a lot of red meat for Republicans in this session.

What are Democrats saying about their ability to push back here against the governor?

I believe you've been talking to Democrats.

>>I have been and, you know, talked to several of them about this particular issue here.

While they do know it's an uphill battle for them to try to get, if you will, a fight in the leg in the fight here, because, you know, like we said, we were dealing with a super majority here.

A lot of the things a lot of the things on the governor's agenda will likely become law.

Still, they're doing all they can to make their voices known, say where they stand on certain issues, even proposed several bills.

One of the things we're hearing from a lot of the Dems is, hey, we're even looking at some of those things that are likely to be bipartisan that we can kind of push through and get some of those concessions that we want and to some of those bills.

Not a sneak attack here, but some of those things that we can kind of make a session concessions in and get them in under the under those those bigger bills, those more partizan bills that we can kind of make and see if we can have those become law.

>>Well, of course, we'll be watching the special or the regular session, I should say, here on the program.

A reminder, we recall the show on Thursday morning so things can change by air time.

In the meantime, you can find a link to the College Board statement on its AP African-American studies course and a link to the full course framework for you to read for yourself on our website.

You can also find a link to a special Black History Month discussion on inclusion that Curtis hosted on Spectrum News 13.

It's all on our website wucf.org/newsnight.

Okay.

Finally tonight, President Biden took a surprise visit to Kiev this week, a year after the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Florida's home to more than 11,000 Ukrainian refugees.

NewsNight caught up with four Ukrainians in central Florida, all students at Stetson University to get their reflections on the war raging in their home country.

>>You cannot believe that it will actually happen until you wake up one day when your like mom wake up, wakes you up and tells your younger sister to take like one favorite toy and you'll go to the bomb shelter and you don't know if you'll be able to return home.

>>The plaintiff in this case-- >>We don't have electricity in power now because the Russian rockets hit electrical infrastructure almost every day.

So they have power for 3 hours each day just to do the most crucial things, like to cook food, to to do laundry.

>>We don't have water, power, heating, electricity, just anything.

So I decided that it would be better for me to be here.

>>When I was leaving my country, I was, you know, like mixed feelings.

On the one hand, youre you feel a bit relieved because you are not in the war anymore.

You are not in the threat of being killed any second.

But at the same time, it's your home country and you want to be there under any circumstances.

And there's the reason why lots of people came back to Ukraine.

>>When there is a big crisis for example, when there was the first big drone attack on Kiev and it was 3 a.m. here, we will be sitting here together in the living room, shaken, scared together, but supporting each other.

>>It's super nice that we live together because it's, you know, like the same culture, same mentality.

So it's easier to get along with each other.

And we have this Ukrainian house with all this flags and this Ukrainian spirit, which is really inspiring during this times.

And when you have classes, when you have school, when you have some deadlines, it makes you think about something else for a while.

>>The war has changed a lot.

People are dying and we need more support from the international community in terms of everything humanitarian, financial aid, weapons, because it's about defense in our own country.

It's about helping other women and children to survive.

Despite all this terrible things that are happening now in Ukraine, we are not giving up, not no matter where Ukrainians are.

Everyone tries to help our country and to help to get the victory as soon as possible.

I'm so proud, actually, of my country now because everyone is so brave and does everything possible to win this war.

>>Our NewsNight intern, Avery Joens compiled that report Well, we want to let you know that coming up right after this program, WUCF will be recognizing one year since the Russian invasion of Ukraine with a broadcast of Nadia Ukraine, a special performance by the National Ballet of Ukraine.

The performance recorded at the Dr. Philip Steinmetz Hall was in August 2020.

It was the first US stop of the ballet company's world tour and its first performance in the States since the violence began.

That's coming up next, here on WUCF.

Meanwhile, NewsNight visited an exhibit of photography from Ukraine at the Orlando Museum of Art.

You can see more on that on our website at wucf.org/newsnight.

Well, that is all the time we have for this week.

Once again, we extend our deepest condolences to our friends and colleagues at Spectrum News 13.

Thoughts are with all of them.

In the meantime, my thanks to Curtis McCloud from Spectrum News 13.

Thank you so much for coming in this week Curtis.

And Skyler Swisher from the Orlando Sentinel.

Thanks for coming in, Skyler.

We'll see you next Friday night at 8:30 here on WUCF.

From all of us here at NewsNight, take care.