>>This week on NewsNight, local agencies distribute higher doses of naloxone, as ever more powerful fentanyl hits central Florida communities in a new phase of the opioid crisis.

>>Our leaders have to do more.

There's more funding needed.

This is not something we saw before the pandemic.

This is now the front line of our fight to save lives.

>>Plus, could Florida make it easier for the news media to be sued for defamation?

NewsNight starts now.

[MUSIC] Hello, I'm Steve Mort, and welcome to NewsNight, where we take an in-depth look at the top stories and issues in central Florida and how they affect all of us.

First tonight, the latest data on the opioid crisis in our region.

This week, an FDA advisory panel recommended the overdose reversal drug naloxone be sold over-the-counter, clearing the way for widespread access.

In 2022, powerful synthetic fentanyl remained the number one cause of drug overdose deaths in Orange County, even while figures from the medical examiner's office reported by the Orlando Sentinel showed a dip in fentanyl deaths compared to 2021.

Project Opioid late last year began distributing double strength Naloxone doses.

I spoke this week with Project Opioid CEO Andrae Bailey.

>>That leveling off is at a catastrophic death rate of young people.

The opioid crisis hasn't gone anywhere, and now we've got to look to new solutions to save lives.

>>So you don't take much heart from the fact that we're seeing numbers decline in some places?

>>Listen, if you were running the company and that company at one point was losing $1 billion a year and then it went from losing $1 billion a year to losing $900 million a year, you're still going to get fired if you're the CEO of that company.

So we cannot celebrate where we are in this fentanyl driven opioid crisis.

If a young person is going to make the decision to take drugs in 2023, it's a completely different decision than before the pandemic.

Because fentanyl is now in every drug that we see on our streets.

It could be in heroin, it could be in cocaine, could be laced in marijuana.

But more scary than that, we find fentanyl pressed into fake prescription pills.

This is not something we saw before the pandemic.

This is now the front line of our fight to save lives in this opioid crisis.

>>Andrae Bailey there from Project Opioid.

Well, let's bring in our panel now to break it all down.

Joining us in the studio this week, Stephen Hudak, who covers local government for the Orlando Sentinel.

Thanks so much for for coming in, Steve.

Really appreciate it.

Talia Blake covers the economy for 90.7 WMFE news, youre also the Morning Edition host over there, an early riser and another early riser, Alexa Lorenzo, WFTV Channel 9 morning anchor over there.

Thanks for coming in, Alexis.

Really appreciate it.

Steve, let me start with you on this one.

You wrote recently about this sort of dip in in fentanyl overdose deaths locally last year.

How is that data point being viewed by sort of activists in this area and put that number in some context for us?

>>I will.

That's that's a good question.

What Andre had to say is true.

It's those numbers that have come down, but they're still really high.

We still had 350 deaths, almost 350 deaths from fentanyl with overdoses involving fentanyl, mostly through nine months of last year, you know, and that was about 100 deaths fewer than the year before.

That's still like the leading cause, right?

It's still it's still awful.

So I also talked about how fentanyl is in everything.

73% of these overdoses have some sort of you find fentanyl in the mix.

>>So you also mentioned in your report this double strength naloxone called Kloxxado.

Is this the result of just fentanyl getting stronger and stronger, as you noted in your piece?

>>Well, some people think that's the reason.

Other people think it's just profit making, that it's one of these chances for the pharma companies to hop in here and look to say, look what's happening with fentanyl.

You need not four milligrams, you need eight milligrams.

And there are some people who think it's it's not needed.

It's not necessary to have that strength.

>>And that's what's being distributed now by local agencies like police, right?

>>That's correct.

>>In our region, Yeah.

Alexa, your newsroom's reported on a Florida law which was passed last year.

Right.

To prosecute dealers that are involved in overdose deaths.

How do advocates that WFTV has spoken to sort of assess that legislation so far?

>>We spoke with the Osceola County Recovery Project and they were saying that this law isn't as black and white as some may see it.

They believe if someone was given surprise fentanyl, meaning it was in the mix, then fine, you know, lock them up, throw away the key.

But if someone was actively seeking fentanyl, it's kind of a different story and a little bit of a slippery slope.

And then at the same time, they say their mission is to help people dealing with addiction and get them out of that awful cycle.

And a lot of the time, these drug dealers are addicts themselves and they're they're selling to support their cause.

So they don't want them to be locked up.

They want them to go to a recovery program and get the help they need.

So it's really difficult.

>>This issue about treating it as a law enforcement issue.

Talia, President Biden tackled the fentanyl issue in his in his State of the Union last week.

Critics have also accused his administration of doing that, of treating this sort of more as a law enforcement issue.

Why do advocates oppose that strategy?

>>The main thing that it bubbles down boils down to is that criminalization, as they say, is the opposite of harm reduction.

>>Yeah.

>>If putting people in jail for these drug problems was working, then we would see those numbers coming down already and we're not.

So they're saying that it's the complete opposite of actually helping people is putting them in jail.

>>Sort of resembles the war on drugs I guess that we were familiar with in the 1980s, where it really was law enforcement was sort of the the center of that.

Channel 9s done some reporting some really alarming reporting on how children are able to get fentanyl now online.

>>Yeah, this was really disturbing.

When we started seeing this trend, we spoke with the assistant special agent in charge of Homeland Security in Orlando, and he says today it is as easy to find fentanyl online as it is to order groceries.

He says he's been seeing it hidden in some very common websites.

Sometimes dealers are making their own website, and within a few clicks you can get fentanyl delivered to your door.

>>Thats astonishing.

>>And he says it's it's a problem with teenagers.

They're getting calls from local hospitals with overdose and teenagers.

The attorney general's office found new study that children under the age of 14 are dying of fentanyl poison poisoning in a more alarming and faster rate than any other age group.

So it's the children that are being targeted online.

>>The other political element of this, Steve, is that Republicans blame a lot of what they see in the fentanyl crisis on the Biden administration's.

What they say is the Biden administration's failure to control that flow of fentanyl at the border.

Do we think that's a fair assessment?

>>I think experts who study fentanyl and the drug abuse would say it's not fair because of it - we've had fentanyl has been steadily rising.

The use and the effect in our country over several different administrations, the tail end of the Obama administration.

So all through the Trump administration.

And the other thing is, I it's hard for me to believe that fentanyl is coming in on the backs of people from Mexico across the border.

More likely, it's coming in the port of entry.

It's being smuggled in that way.

And it's because a migrant is trying to get across the border, might get lost, might get caught, might just lose what he's bringing across.

And if he's caught, they're going to confiscate it.

So I think that's kind of just political bantering.

>>That's a tricky issue.

And I'm sure it's going to affect many administrations to come.

You can find links to last year's bill targeting dealers in Florida and a bill set to be considered this session requiring overdose drugs to be made available in some college dorms in Florida.

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

Okay.

Next tonight, brand new figures show the year on year inflation rate dropped in January for the seventh straight month, but in a more ominous sign, prices have climbed sharply since December, according to the latest Consumer Price Index out this week.

So with that in mind, let's check in on the state of our region's economy.

And the biggest economic driver, tourism.

There's no doubt central Florida's tourism industry is in a strong position.

According to figures from Orange County's comptroller, tourism tax revenues reached yet another record in December of more than $31 million.

The Orlando Sentinel noted in its reporting that December marks the 11th month in a row that bed tax collections of hit a record as tourists continue to flock to Florida, so too do new residents pushing the cost of living in the Sunshine State even higher.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics finds some parts of the state are posting the highest cost of living increases among major cities in the United States.

Although inflation is coming off its 2022 highs, the agency says it remains higher in Florida than the national average, while unemployment is lower.

Unions at Disney amid negotiation with the company over pay, say the thriving tourism industry should be paying workers more to keep up with inflation and housing costs.

The Florida Realtors Association says the cost of a single family home is 10% higher now than it was in 2021, around $400,000.

But as the Fed pursues its anti-inflationary stance, some economists predict a cooling in Florida's housing market this year amid mortgage rates of around 6% for a 30 year fixed.

All right, then, Steve, let me start with you on this one.

I referenced your reporting there on the tourism development tax dollars.

What is Orange County telling you about whether this trend of sort of consecutive record numbers is going to continue?

>>Well, Fred Winterkamp, who gives a report to the Tourism Development Council, spoke to them in January, and he said it kind of suggested that maybe it would continue because he said it's based on three things.

One is more rooms or rooms, and we have more a lot more than we used to have.

Occupancy rate, and it's been pretty steady.

But also the price price point for those rooms for a night, it's much higher than it used to be.

That's why we've had all these record collections.

But if the economy doesn't improve, eventually vacations are going to go away.

Its discretionary spending.

>>Yes.

Yeah.

So that that is a concern.

>>I think we can all say that, you know, hotel room prices are very high at the moment.

Alexa I mean, unions representing many workers at Disney World are in these contentious negotiations that know Channel 9 have been covering over pay to basically address this cost of living situation.

The parks are doing well.

Tourism is doing well.

Are wages keeping up?

>>They're not.

The union says that what Disney's bringing to the table does not go far enough in the face of the cost of living hikes.

We continue to see inflation and other expenses across the board here in central Florida.

So they've demanded a starting minimum wage to jump to $18 an hour.

That last contract agreement was $15 an hour.

Disney said, okay, we'll get you to $20 an hour after five years.

So you'll go up a dollar a year after year five, you'll be making 20.

And they say they just can't live that way.

And these unions do data deep dives.

And they brought a recent study to the table saying if you have no dependents here in central Florida to live here and to live as you should, you should be making $18.19 $18.19 an hour.

If you have two kids, both parents need to be making $23.91 an hour.

And what Disney's bringing doesn't meet that .

>>Doesn't meet it.

I mean, what about we've put this in context for the rest of the nation, Talia.

I mean, the unions say it's expensive to live here.

Some parts of the state even more expensive.

Right.

I'm thinking of sort of of South Florida in, you know, some parts of the state down there where the issue might be even more acute.

I mean, how does Florida compare to other parts of the country in this sort of cost of living issue?

>>Right.

So you mentioned South Florida.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics actually reported that the Miami metro area has the highest cost of living increase among every other part of the country.

So just in South Florida our highest cost of living.

And one of the main reasons for that, which we know is a problem here in central Florida as well, is housing.

Housing remains extremely high, and that has raised the cost of living for everyone.

And then when you think housing, groceries, transportation, before, you know, your whole check is gone.

When you live in Florida.

>>Steve, Orange County sort of pulling in those record tourism tax dollars.

But what is the status of that county's affordable housing trust fund established out in 2020?

Right to try to ease some of this issue?

>>They did.

And I think they have still they they've pledged 160 million over ten years and they've awarded six different projects for affordable housing units.

And the thing is not one of them has been has even broken ground yet.

So we're still quite a ways away from that.

But the county is committed to trying to find some way to have affordable housing.

It's just hard.

>>Slow going.

Talia, you've reported on what economists expect to see out of the out of the housing market in the next year in central Florida.

What is likely to happen according to them?

>>Yeah.

So, you know, we're already slowly starting to see a little bit more inventory come into the market, but it's still far off from what we economists would consider a balanced market.

Now, there is some fear that building is going to slow down because builders confidence is kind of low.

There might be still some supply chain issues getting materials in.

So there is still some worry that even though inventory is coming back into the market, it's not going to be coming back quickly.

And it could take a long time to build more houses because we know that that is one of the issues with the affordable housing is that we just don't have enough inventory.

>>Yeah, I mean, briefly, Alexa, I mean, that legislature has been the target of criticism, hasn't it, over recent years for what critics see as a lack of action on affordable housing.

Is that likely to change?

>>It looks like it could.

It's been a major priority for Senate President Kathleen Passidomo to get a bill moving forward.

And at this point, there's a unanimously backed, wide ranging bill.

It's very wide ranging, wants to do a lot of stuff.

It wants to provide incentives for private investment in affordable housing.

It wants to preempt local government rules on zoning, encourage mixed use development to get more buildings for affordable housing up.

The sticking point for many is that it also bars local rent controls.

We know that's a problem in Orange County.

Voters unanimously backed that, but it's being held up in legal battles.

So this is a possibly it's moving forward.

But as we all know, only time will tell.

>>Well, we'll keep an eye on it here on the program.

And we're going to be talking more about affordable housing in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, you can join this conversation on social media, were at WUCFTV, on Facebook, Twitter, and also on Instagram.

Okay.

Finally tonight, Governor DeSantis last week trained his fire on one of his most reliable foils, what he describes as the legacy media.

But this time he went on to suggest the state could make it easier for people to pursue defamation cases against the press.

Describing himself as having a thick skin, the governor said such a move would not be for the benefit of high profile politicians like himself, but rather, quote, run of the mill citizens.

And he urged lawmakers to step in to, quote, protect Floridians.

>>We've seen over the last generation corporate media outlets legacy media outlets increasingly divorce themselves from the truth and instead try to elevate preferred narratives and partizan activism over reporting the facts when they depart from the truth.

A lot of times the truth's on the cutting room floor and the narratives that they're supporting and and furthering actually damage a lot of people with lies.

It's our view in Florida that we want to be standing up for little the little guy against some of these massive media conglomerates and a guy like me, I have a platform, I'm fine.

But there's a lot of other people, I think, who who get maligned unfairly and then really don't have the adequate recourse, which I think would would would be good.

And you know what?

It would contribute to an increase in the ethics in the media and everything.

If they knew, you know, what, you smear somebody, you know, it's false and you didn't do your homework, you know, you're going to have to be held accountable for that.

>>Well, that's the governor's position.

Now, let's hear from the other side in this debate.

The Florida First Amendment Foundation says the legal bar is already lower for private citizens in defamation cases.

And its executive director, Bobby Block says he's worried about the individual states setting their own laws on press freedom.

>>The exact law that that the critics are targeting has been the law of the land for almost 60 years, is called is based out of a case that appeared before the Supreme Court in 1964 called New York Times versus Sullivan.

And in that case, the New - The Supreme Court said that for a plaintiff to proceed with claims of libel or defamation, the first Amendment requires the First Amendment requires that the plaintiff show that the information published was published with the knowledge that it was false and without any effort to try to establish whether it was true.

And this has been called the the malice clause and what it applies to, contrary to what the governor and the roundtable of critics put together, what it really applies to is not the average Joe.

The average Joe has.

As long as the average Joe has a reputation to defend.

If that reputation is falsely slandered by anybody, it's the allegation, the false allegation.

That's the problem.

But if you're a public official or a public figure, i.e.

a celebrity that lives in the limelight, you have to show that the it wasn't a simple mistake.

It was done on purpose.

There was malfeasance, there was negligence or there was malice.

But the fact of the matter is the law says this is all necessary as part of a national, robust dialog, and that's what serves a free society.

So we are upset by this intention.

The fact of the matter is, is that it will chill free speech.

>>All right.

So this kind of affects all of us in our line of work.

Right?

The governor has long had an adversarial relationship with the press, I think it's fair to say.

Do you think this takes it a step further?

>>I think it does.

He is saying that this is for the little guy, that when the media attacks him and makes claims that he has a platform to fight back and that he's doing this for the people who don't have the adequate resources to kind of fight back and in his words.

But we've seen that adversarial kind of relationship since he took office with him online, making attacks to different media outlets.

We've seen it with the communications director attacking journalists, blocking journalists from seeing content that she or the governor had put out his former press secretary.

So this this does take it a step further.

And a lot of people don't know if this is going to get to a very healthy point ever within his administration, but it definitely does further that.

>>Steve, well, the governor sort of didn't outline a specific bill.

I think the Orlando Sentinel has written about one that was proposed last year.

Your colleague Skyler Swisher, wrote about this.

It didn't get filed, but it could shed some light right on what the governor is thinking.

>>Yes, Skyler did a great job on that story because it was uncovered by looking at emails and getting drafts of the bill.

And it would it wanted to change one very important part of it.

And that was if you had an unnamed source in the story that would automatically be in litigation, it would be presumed to be false or wrong, you know, because because they're not a name attached to it.

>>Well, on that unnamed sources thing, I mean, the governor is kind of gone after unnamed sources specifically, Right.

I mean, he sort of says journalists are able to use unnamed sources to kind of launder defamatory statements about people.

Just explain how anonymous source reporting works for people who might not be sort of familiar and why do we in this business use such sources?

>>Okay.

Let me say this first.

I've been a reporter for 40 years.

I've used an anonymous source in a story five times in my life.

Once I was wrong, once the person was wrong, and I - every time it was established that they had something at risk, their job, their family, their safety, and they had access to information that was particularly helpful.

Sometimes you use an anonymous source because that person knows about a particular instance, but they're not authorized to speak and you can't get that information any other way.

So usually it's it's meant to protect the source and not to protect the journalist.

>>This really became a big deal during the Trump administration when there were so many leaks from the White House that were attributed to anonymous sources.

Alexa, I mean, most news organizations, right, have their own set of rules, whether sort of ethics codes that sort of journalists have to abide by when they report.

How do newsrooms like yourself, WMFE, the Orlando Sentinel, I mean, how do they make sure that coverage is accurate and fair?

>>So sometimes you get a really incredible tip from an anonymous source and you want to run with it.

If you go into Channel 9, we have posters around the newsroom that it's a quote from Wyatt Earp and it says “Fast is fine, but accuracy is everything.

” And it's our job to be accurate and to deliver the facts.

So when someone comes to the table saying, I got this, I have a source saying this, we want to make sure that's true and we're going to push for 2 to 3 other sources to confirm what we heard from that first one.

We try to make sure they don't know each other, that we're getting it from different pockets to kind of cover our butts because we want to go out there with the accurate information.

>>I think that because of this, you know, blogger kind of.

>>Yes.

>>Social media culture >>I think that the lines in the public's eyes have been blurred and confused of what an actual journalist is.

And then someone who's more doing opinion pieces and blogging and just kind of commenting on what's going on versus someone who's actually fact checking, giving you both sides of the stories and letting you decide what it is that you're taking away from that.

So instead of telling you what to to think about it.

>>And I guess in what we call these days, sort of the mainstream media, most journalists would have their own set of ethics, right?

I mean, the governor does have his supporters, though, in conservative circles.

>>Yeah, that's that's true.

I mean, there's supporters everywhere, wherever you look, But it's about having a balanced news media diet.

And I don't think a lot of people talk about that, about getting your news from multiple different sources, from multiple different angles.

So that way you can decide for yourself kind of what's going on in the world.

But our job is to make sure that all those sides are presented to you and that all the facts and information are presented to you.

>>What do you think, Steve?

>>Well, I also think it's important to realize that journalists who work with journalists use anonymous sources as a last resort, and it is usually just as Alexa said, we have tried to confirm it with other sources.

We have taken it to the people who are authorized to speak, and we've presented that we don't usually just we don't take what somebody says anonymously and just run with it.

We don't put it in the paper.

We don't put it on TV.

We try to vet things.

I can't tell you how many times I like if I have a quote in there from somebody that I'm not quite sure about, I'm checking with other people in other counties, people in other walks of life.

I always am looking for balance.

You mentioned that balance is critical to us.

>>I think that it's also important to realize that we're a team in these news organizations.

If you have a tip and you're having trouble confirming that your colleague, your colleagues, your colleague, your managers, your producers, and it's not just Alexa Lorenzo wants to say this on TV because it's my voice.

Everyone is at the table working hard to get these avenues confirmed.

>>It was a pivotal period of change for our industry for sure, but that is all the time we have for this week.

My thanks to Steve Hudak from the Orlando Sentinel.

Talia Blake, 90.7 WMFE News and Alexa Lorenzo, WFTV Channel 9.

Thank you guys so much for coming in.

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

From all of us here at NewsNight, take care and have a great week.