>>This week on NewsNight, the Orlando City Council sets a date for a special election to fill the seat of suspended Commissioner Regina Hill.

Plus, former President Donald Trump says abortion should be left up to the states following last week's rulings on the issue by the Florida Supreme Court.

NewsNight starts now.

Hello.

I'm Brendan Byrne, sitting in for Steve Mort.

Welcome to NewsNight where we take an in-depth look at the top stories and issues in central Florida and how they affect you.

First tonight, the election to replace Regina Hill on the Orlando City Council.

The special election for District Five's seat will be held on May 21st, and the person elected will fill that seat until Hill's case is resolved or the term ends.

>>Okay.

Good morning.

>>City commissioners met this week to agree on a timetable for an election for an interim District Five commissioner.

>>As part of that process today, I called a special election to be held on Tuesday, May the 21st, 2024, and a runoff election if necessary, on June 18th, 2024.

>>Hill took office in the district representing large portions of West Orlando a decade ago.

Her recent suspension by Governor Ron DeSantis means a special election is now needed to find a replacement for the rest of her term, which ends in January 2026, or until Hill is reinstated, if acquitted.

>>You were arrested based on an indictment that was filed that was returned against you with seven counts, count one, exploitation of an elderly person or disabled persons.

Count two is exploitation of an elderly or disabled person.

Count four scheme to defraud of over $50,000.

Count five Fraudulent use of a person's identification over $100,000.

Fraudulent use.

Count six fraudulent use of a person identification as a parent, guardian, or custodian.

Finally counts seven Mortgage fraud greater than $100,000.

>>Regina Hill was recently charged with several counts of elderly abuse in connection with a power of attorney that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement says was fraudulent.

Hill, who has sat on the city council since 2014, is alleged to have taken money from a 96 year old constituent and used it to pay for a facelift, vitamin infusions and other expenses.

She's pleaded not guilty.

On Friday, Hill appeared in court for a six hour hearing in a separate civil case over control of the elderly woman's affairs.

While Hill's attorney argued she only acted in the 96 year old's interest, the judge placed a permanent injunction on the commissioner preventing her from having any contact with the alleged victim.

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

Joining me in the studio, Erik Sandoval from WKMG News 6, Chantelle Navarro from WFTV Channel 9, and Annie Martin from the Orlando Sentinel.

Thank you all so much for being here.

Erik, let's start with you.

You've been reporting on Regina Hill's legal troubles.

Just remind us of the allegations and how she's responded so far.

>>Well, I think you laid it out great in your story.

She's basically allowed a are accused of using this 96 year old woman's identity and using some of her credit cards, if you will, to buy that facelift, to buy those vitamin infusions.

She has steadfast denied everything, but she officially is referring all media requests to her attorney.

>>Chantelle, as Erik mentioned, Hill has denied this wrongdoing.

But you've reported on kind of the the the prison time that may be involved in such allegations.

What do we know about this?

>>Well, I was speaking with some attorneys who say, you know, there's a very slim chance that she doesn't avoid at least some sort of prison time.

It's a very serious accusation.

You know, we're talking to elder abuse.

A judge is not going to just take that lightly.

She's not just gonna like get off from these charges or attorneys are saying it's less likely that there's going to be a trial.

She might not get the whole, you know, life in prison, but definitely, definitely some years.

>>Erik, That's the criminal case.

But there's also a civil case involved in these allegations and that wrapped up.

What do we know about that?

>>Well, I think it started with this civil case.

And then we found out more about the criminal case through the civil case.

The civil case was basically asking for a judge to stop Regina Hill in her tracks, stop her from getting access to this 96 year old woman's finances, stop her from living in a house that this woman owned.

That went to court last week now.

And the judge finally ordered a permanent injunction, basically telling Regina Hill, no, you're going to stay away from this.

Keep your hands off.

>>Annie, there will be a special election now to fill Regina's Hill seat, at least temporarily.

What do we know about the timeframe and how this is all going to work out?

>>The timeframe is very quick.

The special election has been scheduled for May.

Qualifying happens next week, so candidates have a very short time frame to put their names in the hat.

At least a handful of people have already said that they are interested, including some names.

I think people in this community will recognize.

Former state Representative Travaris McCurdy has said he's interested in running as well as a couple of other folks in the community who are pretty prominent.

>>It's very short qualifying timeframe.

What do we know about some of the other candidates that are that have said that they want to jump in on this?

>>Well, Lawanna Gelzer's one of them.

She's a community activist in Parramore.

And it is interesting to note, in the last county commission race, she came really close to winning.

She has a lot of name recognition in that district.

So definitely going to be a race to watch.

>>Annie, you and your colleague, Ryan Gillespie put together an in-depth background to this case.

Through that investigative work, what what kind of stood out as some key moments in this whole timeline?

>>Well, the story really began in early 2021.

Code enforcement officers for the city of Orlando visited this woman's house.

Neighbors had complained about a foul odor coming from the house and that her roof was collapsed.

They noted some really serious problems inside the house, including pet feces in the carpet, bugs on the walls.

Things were just really unlivable in this poor elderly woman's house.

A short time later, Regina Hill, who was her city commissioner, got involved, met this woman for the first time, investigators say, and even organized a day when the cleanup crews would come clean up this woman's house for her and make it livable for her.

And then after that, investigators say she was continue to be involved in the woman's life.

She got power of attorney so that she had control over this woman's bank accounts and did provide for some of this woman's care to make sure that her house stayed clean and that she had food and groceries and other essentials.

Then in August of 2022, she signed a document that gave Regina Hill the power to purchase another home in both her name and the elderly woman's name and in Regina Hill's name.

So they owned this property together.

>>And Erik, in the 30 seconds we have left, what have we heard from the mayor or other city commissioners?

>>Very little.

You know, and when I personally I've asked the mayor about this, and he he doesn't want to talk about it.

He doesn't want to talk about next steps or anything like that.

He has.

But it's been very little, just as much as he needs to say at that specific moment.

Sort of get it.

I mean, we have a criminal charge.

We have criminal charges, plural, against one of the city commissioners.

He doesn't want to say anything out of line.

He wants to keep it very close to the vest.

I totally get it.

But I think the community really does want to hear from the city leadership about what are the next steps, what is the state of that district and where do we go from here?

>>Speaking of those next steps, you can find information on the upcoming special election in Orlando.

Plus, a map of District five on our website, it's at wucf.org/newsnight.

Next tonight, Florida's recent Supreme Court rulings on abortion.

The court last week allowed the state's six week abortion ban to go into force in May, but the justices also gave the green light to a ballot initiative aimed at enshrining abortion access in the Florida constitution.

Florida has become a tough prospect for Democrats in recent years, but political watchers say the recent Florida Supreme Court decisions on abortion have thrown a potential lifeline to the Biden campaign.

>>Democratic candidates are going to highlight this quite a bit, particularly here in Florida, where it's a pretty stark choice to be made and that abortion rights amendment gives Democrats a reason to turn out, even if they thought, okay, the presidential race probably is over, you know, the state's trending Republican.

Well, your vote might not matter in a presidential race in the sense that if maybe Trump's got a big lead, but it sure as heck is going to matter in this vote for abortion rights.

>>Polls nationwide show 71% of Americans favor abortion being legal in all or most cases.

Only 36% say they agree with the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v Wade.

Handing the issue to the states.

Political scientists say that might place former President Trump and down ballot Republicans in a bind in Florida, where Democrats hope abortion on the ballot will turn out progressives.

>>Trump realizes that electorally he's in okay shape right now.

He's running neck and neck with Biden in national polls and in most of the swing state polls.

He actually has a small lead.

Trump does, but it's small leads.

And so if you have an emotional issue like abortion, that drives a lot more voters to the polls or perhaps get some voters that might otherwise support him to change their mind, it's bad news for him.

>>But Chabeli Carrazana who writes for the publication the 19th, which focuses on gender politics and policy, says it's hard to predict how the issue will affect partizan voting.

>>I don't think abortion is as clean cut as some of the other issues that we've seen voters decide on or look at when when they're looking at their candidates.

It's it's a little bit of a separate issue.

And we've heard this from Republican voters who have said, I vote Republican, but abortion, I want to see it separate.

That's part of the reason they might support a constitutional amendment on the ballot, for example, on abortion, because it is a little bit of a separate issue.

So, no, I don't think it's as clean cut of a winning issue for the Republican or Democratic Party.

And I mean, I think you'll hear from a lot of Democrats that they have been disappointed to see the president not try to enshrine abortion rights in law.

And so on both sides, the issue is complicated.

It's muddy and it's complex.

>>In a move seen by some in Washington as an effort to moderate the GOP's position on abortion, Donald Trump this week disappointed many conservatives by saying the issue should stay with the states, in effect rejecting a push for a national ban.

>>Many states will be different.

Many will have a different number of weeks or some will have more conservative than others.

And that's what they will be.

At the end of the day, this is all about the will of the people.

You must follow your heart, or in many cases, your religion or your faith do what's right for your family and do what's right for yourself.

Do what's right for your children, and do what's right for our country.

And vote.

So important to vote.

At the end of the day, it's all about will of the people.

That's where we are right now, and that's what we want, the will of the people.

>>Governor DeSantis championed Florida's six week abortion ban, which will come into effect next month.

Trump, who will himself get a vote on Florida's proposed abortion amendment as a state resident, has previous described the restrictive law as a, quote, terrible mistake.

>>In 2016, Donald Trump ran to overturn Roe v Wade.

Now, in 2024, he's running to pass a national ban.

>>Meanwhile, political analysts say the Biden campaign is likely to cast doubt on Trump's efforts to moderate his messaging on abortion.

Keeping up the pressure on an issue Democrats see as a potential winner for them.

>>I think Democrats wisely, politically speaking, will be hammering away at this issue and pointing out that Trump and other Republicans are supporting very strict bans, if not almost complete bans, and that if you want to support a woman's right to choose, you need to vote Democratic.

>>And it's worth mentioning this week, Arizona Supreme Court has ruled to uphold the state's 1864 near-total abortion ban.

However, there is a ballot initiative planned for this year, just like Florida did.

Both states may have the chance to override this ban in November.

Annie let's start with you.

Your colleague, Caroline Katherman has done a lot of work on the likely fallout from the Florida Supreme Court's decision allowing the six week ban to take effect.

What has The Sentinel found in terms of that impact?

>>Well, there's going to be an abortion ban at six weeks starting May 1st, and that will mean clinics will likely shutter and that people in the state of Florida who want an abortion will have to travel to another state, the closest state where they can get that after six weeks is likely going to be Illinois or get abortion pills by mail order going forward.

>>Erik, News 6 has looked at the numbers of people who've had abortions in Florida last year.

Does that give us an indication as to how many people this may affect?

>>I think it gives us a glimpse to that, Brendan.

You know, the numbers say anywhere between 72 to 80,000 women get an abortion and got an abortion in 2023.

65,000 of those were within the first trimester.

So while we can't gauge the six week we can definitely say within the first trimester, most of them.

That's.

That's a large number.

>>Chantelle, your outlet New 6 - Channel 9 has been talking with patients and abortion providers in recent days.

What have you been hearing about the response and preparations for these new restrictions when they do come out next month?

>>You know, there's a lot of stress right now because with these people not being able to get access, they're going to have to leave the state.

There was about 9000 people who left the state just last year alone to try to get abortions somewhere else.

So now Planned Parenthood is trying to set things up with out of care, out of state facilities and do what they can to get these people some backup plans.

>>Which will be quite far away, as Annie mentioned.

Annie, the politics of abortion are complex.

Did former President Trump face pressure to clarify his his position after the Florida Supreme Court allowed abortion on the ballot in November?

And what was that?

>>He did, and it appears he is not supporting a national ban on abortion as many anti-abortion groups hoped that he would.

He said that he thought that that issue should be up to the states to decide what's best for them, either through a ballot initiative or through their legislature.

>>And Erik, former President Trump is a Florida resident.

He will get a vote on this on the proposed constitutional amendment.

Do we have any indication as to what that vote may be?

>>No, no, Honestly, it's still making the rounds on the national news talk shows right now.

All the pundits are going out.

What is he going to vote?

What is he going to vote?

And they're asking his camp, how are you going to vote this November?

And his camp just isn't giving in and giving any indication.

>>Chantelle, this this puts Florida more in play in the national political arena.

What are we hearing from from both sides on on this constitutional amendment, this a ban?

And then what the former president and GOP frontrunner is is saying about abortion?

>>Well, it's kind of funny because both sides were kind of upset when he made this announcement because Democrats think, oh, well, you're obviously just lying.

You're going to go change your mind later.

And then a lot of, you know, religious conservatives are saying, why are you not you know, this is something that we widely support.

What's what's going on here type thing.

So it's been a lot of negativity, but we're just going to have to see them.

What what kind of happens.

>>And finally, Annie, how have antiabortion conservatives received opinions from the Florida Supreme Court?

What's the potential path forward for these groups?

>>They're definitely looking at this issue of fetal personhood, which would define a fetus, someone who is in their mother's womb as a person long before they're born.

And given that person the same or that fetus the same rights as a as a human being, a person would have.

>>So it's something we'll be talking about for quite some time.

>>Right.

And that's something that was mentioned in the Supreme Court's opinion about the abortion amendment as well.

And it sort of gave them an idea of a glimpse of what their path forward might be.

>>Gotcha.

Well, we'd like to hear from you on this or any other issue we discussed here on NewsNight.

You can join us on social media.

We're at WUCF TV on Facebook, X, and Instagram.

Finally tonight, we want to check in on a story we've covered a lot here on the program.

Last year, the Florida legislature passed legislation barring the use of public funds to pay for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in state universities and colleges.

The Board of Governors adopted rules for those institutions in November, and last month, the University of Florida dismantled its entire DEI office, eliminating 13 positions.

NewsNight's Krystel Knowles has been looking at how the crackdown on DEI programs has been playing out since Florida's higher education law came into effect last July.

She speaks with a New College student set to graduate this semester who talks about being the first institution in Florida to see the effects of the legislation.

>>New College senior Chai Leffler is set to graduate this semester.

He says much has changed since the governor appointed six new members to the College Board of Trustees.

The board replaced the school's president with DeSantis Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran.

>>How much it changed in from spring of 2023 to fall of 2023.

Literally just one academic year.

That was a drastic change that makes me worried for the future and worried for what my degree will mean.

New College students staged this protest at a commencement ceremony last spring.

It became the first state institution in Florida to ax its DEI office.

>>All in favor signify by saying Aye.

>>Aye.

>>Show the new rule adopted.

>>In January, the state Board of Education passed a rule banning the use of public funds for DEI programs in the Florida college system, comprising of 28 state colleges.

>>The main focus of this legislation and of the subsequent rule that I before you today is to ensure that institutions in the Florida college system and there's a companion regulation also for the state university system do not spend state or federal funds on DEI.

>>Last year, Governor DeSantis asked all state colleges and universities to report how much they spent on anything DEI related.

According to the governor's office, the institutions self-reported spending a combined $34 million.

Leffler says he wasn't surprised when UF eliminated its DEI positions and offices, a few weeks ago.

>>The original takeover of New College I think a lot of us had a very kneejerk reaction where, I mean, immediately our community came under threat.

And because we're so small and especially openly queer-inclusive in Florida, we kind of knew that that was a very threatening situation to be in.

But we kind of all knew that if they were doing this to New College, that it wasn't just going to be New College, because when they have - they abolished our office, our DEI office also in January, February, very early on in the takeover, we were basically contacting other students at like the University of Florida, University of South Florida, University of Central Florida, all these schools, because we all knew that this is like a test run.

>>This year, the board's overseeing both state colleges and universities, have also implemented regulations, replacing a sociology course with a separate course focus on American history in its list of required classes.

>>We did have an opportunity, thanks to the commissioners leadership and Chancellor Rodriguez, his leadership, and the Board of Governors, to work very closely with our our team and the team in the Board of Governors to make sure that all colleges and universities will be under the same standards and expectations.

And so they've introduced a similar regulation that has the same wording that that this rule does that we bring before you.

>>The chancellor of the state university system of Florida issued this statement.

Florida's universities are laser focused on students success and not indoctrination.

We are proud of our Florida's institutions and the work they continue to do on behalf of our more than 430,000 students.

Florida's legislature and Governor DeSantis continue to invest in resources that allow us to remain committed to academic excellence and freedom.

>>Well, Chantelle, in your previous reporting, you gathered reactions from students here in central Florida.

What have you heard from them about these efforts to eliminate DEI programs here in central Florida?

>>Well, you know, upset would probably be an understatement.

They were you know, a lot of them are heartbroken.

There's been lots of protests around around the board of trustees meeting was the last one that I attended.

And, you know, they're calling this blatant censorship.

They don't think it's fair.

They go to college to, you know, be around people of like minds, and then they can't even attend the classes that they originally intended to now.

>>Erik, it's been nearly a year since the governor signed HB 999.

What do we know about the changes that have occurred at UCF, the state's largest academic institution?

>>I think it was a year ago I was actually on this program talking about what is this going to mean?

And I think back then we were saying it's going to cause a lot of confusion.

And I think a year later, it's still causing a lot of confusion, especially as, as Krystel said in her story in the in the humanities departments.

I mean, what do you share?

What can you not share?

What can you present as a lesson plan at UCF?

No terminations.

Several faculty members have left, though, because they just really don't know what they can present and they feel that it's sort of stifled the education that they can give these students.

>>When the law was put out there, reportedly to.

To allow that academic freedom.

>>Exactly.

Exactly.

Sort of contradicting each other.

>>Annie previously covered higher education for The Orlando Sentinel, wrote a piece about a year ago on the passage of this legislation.

What did those sources you talked to predict what happened a year later and have those predictions come true?

>>Well, when the state was considering it and finally said the state money cannot be used to support DEI programs, people said they worried that faculty members would leave the institutions or they would have a hard time recruiting new faculty members.

And some people would say those concerns have come come to pass.

And one of the things there's been a lot of changes on university campuses that have gone alongside that.

The Board of governors said earlier this year students cannot use sociology courses as a core course anymore.

That won't count for that credit for them.

And University of Florida said it had eliminated all of its staff positions that were dedicated to DEI initiatives.

So there's been a lot of changes that have gone on on state university campuses in the past year.

>>And Annie I'm a stick with you, do universities and colleges appear to be taking different approaches to the requirements to eliminate this public funding of DEI?

>>Yeah.

As I mentioned, the University of Florida said last month that had eliminated over a dozen positions that were dedicated to DEI initiatives and other universities and colleges have made similar moves.

Now at FSU, that university said that they had changed some of the the way those positions were allocated or the way that they were classified so that they could keep those people on board and they wouldn't have to eliminate jobs.

So it is interesting to see how this is played out at different universities.

>>Can I ask you a quick question?

Do you think it's sort of like the parental choice in education bill, though, where, you know, the governor signed it, the legislature passed it, but it really didn't have any hard set rules and guidelines on how to follow it because some teachers were afraid of putting up their pictures of their of their significant others, while others did it anyway, you know, because there wasn't any hard set rules, it sort of sounds like the same.

There's no hard set rules on how to follow this.

>>Yeah, it does seem like there are definitely some similarities and the universities do have some leeway to determine how strictly they want to interpret the law or how much, in their view, they might be taking a risk by keeping somebody on board in a DEI type position who, you know, maybe by reclassifying that position or describing their responsibilities a little bit differently.

>>Hence the confusion.

>>Yeah.

Yeah.

And Erik, Florida's not the only Republican led state to implement these similar restrictions in higher education recently.

Right.

What are some of the other things?

>>I had to make a list.

There's quite a few.

Alabama.

Florida, of course.

Idaho.

Indiana and North Carolina.

North Dakota.

Tennessee.

Texas.

Utah.

Wyoming.

It's quite a few states that are adopting these policies.

Again, you know, as Annie said, the states these states, you know, have a variation on a theme, so to speak.

They're what they're requiring is different, not drastically different, but there are different differences in the law.

But, yes, it is something that is growing across the country.

>>And, Chantelle, in the brief time we have left, the NAACP has looked at Florida's Anti-Woke legislation.

It recently put an opinion on the DEI funding case.

What is the NAACP saying about this?

>>They're saying that black college athletes should just completely avoid all public universities here in Florida.

They're saying, you know, this is this is toxic.

There's going to be racism.

They're not going to be able to attend, you know, some of these classes.

So why come to a state where, you know, it's not fair to them?

>>We talked about losing faculty very much, could lose students here in the state as well right now.

Well, to watch this and previous episodes of NewsNight visit us online at wucf.org/newsnight.

That's all the time we have for this week.

My thanks to Erik Sandoval from WKMG News 6, Chantelle Navarro from WFTV Channel 9, and Annie Martin from the Orlando Sentinel.

Thank you all so much for being here.

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

From all of us here at NewsNight, take care.