>>This week on NewsNight, Florida legislators reportedly discussed a compromise to allow Disney to keep its Reedy Creek Improvement District.

How will Florida Republicans capitalize on their new supermajority in Tallahassee?

And we'll check in on rebuilding in coastal communities after the 2022 hurricane season.

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, Erik Sandoval, WKMG, Channel 6, thanks for coming in, Erik, and Daralene Jones from WFTV, Channel 9.

Thank you, guys.

Really appreciate it.

>>Of course.

>>Thank you.

>>Well, first tonight, reports of a potential reversal on Disney's Reedy Creek Improvement District.

Florida lawmakers earlier this year voted to abolish by next summer Disney's special district, which gives it broad powers to govern itself.

But the Financial Times last week reported that state lawmakers are working on a compromise to allow the company to keep its special tax privileges.

The fight over Disney's special taxing district followed the company's opposition to HB 1557.

What opponents dub Florida's “Don't Say Gay ” Law.

NewsNight spoke with the leaders of the effort to penalize Disney at the time.

>>We're not interested in California companies telling us how we should run our business here in Florida.

They can keep the California values in California.

>>State Republicans chafed at then CEO Bob Chapeks decision to oppose passage of the bill, reportedly under pressure from Disney creative executives.

After initial reluctance to speak out, Chapek promised to pause political donations in Florida and committed support to the LGBTQ+ community.

But the ouster of Chapek and the return of CEO Bob Iger last month appears to have triggered changes.

The Financial Times reporting that Florida lawmakers are preparing a U-turn on punishing Disney.

The paper says since returning to Disney, Iger steered clear of criticizing Florida for a bill that he had warned would put vulnerable young LGBTQ people in jeopardy when it was introduced in February.

Now, the paper says state lawmakers are working on a compromise that would allow Disney to keep the arrangement largely in place with a few modifications.

Some believe the return of Bob Iger as CEO last month, the paper says, will help pave the way for a resolution, according to people briefed on the plan.

But Republicans deny a U-turn is in the offing during negotiations with Disney, which the Times reported might include tweaks to the Reedy Creek districts to limit some of its powers.

The governor's press secretary, in a tweet writing Governor Ron DeSantis, does not make U-turns.

The governor was right to champion removing the extraordinary benefit given to one company through the Reedy Creek Improvement District will have an even playing field for businesses in Florida, and the state certainly owes no special favors to one company.

All right, Erik let's pick up on that one.

Bob Iger is promising to sort of dial back on Disney's culture war engagement, but he isn't saying that the company is going to sort of get rid of those sort of woke themes from its content, right?

>>Not at all.

As a matter of fact.

And first of all, things got really political for a while with Disney in the state of Florida.

And a lot of people are questioning whether it needed to go that far to begin with.

But that's what we have and that's what Disney is moving forward with.

No, they're going to dial down the politics a little bit.

But as far as going forward with what kind of characters they have in their movies and what kind of themes they may have in some of their movies, they say inclusiveness is still part of their brand.

>>Yeah, I mean, Daralene, it sounds like Disney is sort of trying to walk this tightrope right between its-its staff and the state.

I mean, what might it be hoping to get from lawmakers as they sort of consider what to do about Reedy Creek?

>>I think essentially they're hoping that Bob Iger can come in and help sort of massage this relationship that has essentially been tarnished.

But as Erik said, I don't I really don't know that this is as much about the state of Florida doing a U-turn as much as it is about Disney, sort of maybe, you know, pulling back some of the political involvement that they have had in the last couple of years.

>>And, of course, we know very few details at the moment.

There's a lot of speculation that maybe the governor might appoint members of the Reedy Creek board, for example.

I mean, Erik, the governor is continuing to talk tough as we saw there about Disney denying a U-turn.

What have we heard from him and his office?

>>You know, DeSantis is basically saying that Disney brought this on themselves, that, you know, under Chapek, he's the one that got boisterous about the “Don't Say Gay ” law, for example.

But again, if you look at that, it was at the urging of a lot of the Cast Members that felt that Disney wasn't doing enough.

So who was doing the right thing?

You know, maybe timing was the issue.

>>They got a lot of pressure from from those Disney employees.

Talking of Disney employees, Daralene, we've seen union protests right over the last few weeks calling for more pay, I think, for 42,000 employees at Disney.

What do we know about those contract negotiations and what unions want?

>>Look, the cost of everything is going up.

They view Disney as this major corporation that is bringing in a ton of money.

Whether it's a less than they had been in years past or not, it's still a ton of money.

And these workers feel like they should have a chunk of that.

And so, you know, they're trying to make sure that their voices are heard and trying to fight for what they feel is right for themselves and their families.

>>And it goes to timing to again, because, you know, Iger's just coming back in as CEO, they decide to, you know, make their voices heard on the picket lines.

Let's see if he hears them.

>>And I think that a lot of employees at Disney and I shouldn't say a lot, but some employees at Disney felt like Iger certainly listened a little bit more.

There was a lot of sort of silent cheering as the news came out that he was returning to the company.

>>And certainly our largest employer here.

And what happens at that company affects a broader community here in central Florida.

Well, this week, a federal grand jury, by the way, indicted the House sponsor of HB 1557, Joe Harding, on charges he illegally obtained $150,000 in COVID related small business loans.

We'll keep across that story here on NewsNight.

In the meantime, be sure to join the conversation on social media were at WUCFTV on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Well, the original decision to strip Disney of its self-governing status followed that political dust up, of course, as we just mentioned, over HB 1557.

One thing is for sure, Governor DeSantis is also likely to loom large over the next session and the state following his big election win.

Let's watch a piece that Erik put together for News 6 on how the omnipresent governor gets his message out through prolific travel.

>>In Florida, there will be no lockdowns.

>>From right after the height of the COVID pandemic in 2021.

>>Schools need to be teaching kids to read, to write.

>>Through 2022.

>>They transmit it to me at some point.

>>News 6 has covered Governor Ron DeSantis.

>>And today we will sign HB 1557.

>>As he flew from city to city to hold press conferences and sign bills.

>>He has made this part of his almost daily schedule.

>>News 6 Political Analyst UCF history professor Dr. Jim Clark says DeSantis has made travel a powerful tool in getting his messages out.

>>He pops up someplace often without any real advance notice.

He has talked about a litany of issues from parental control in schools to budgeting, all kinds of things.

And it has been extremely effective.

As we saw in the election.

>>We went through all of the governor's schedules and between July of 2021 and June of this year, we hand-counted 139 press conferences, 24 public appearances and ten events that the governor traveled for.

News 6 investigated, and according to a report compiled by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, taxpayers paid $1.2 million to transport the governor during that time period, 52% more than the year before.

That jumping costs came as the price of jet fuel rose more than 100%.

Taxpayers paid an additional 2.4 million for his security detail during those trips, an increase of 30% over the prior year.

An independent website that does track the governor's plane showed his state funded travel included a high profile trip to Del Rio, Texas, in July of last year.

>>We appreciate you stepping up where the federal government won't.

>>That was after he deployed Florida state law enforcement to help in security efforts along the Mexico border.

But when it came to campaigning >>Hello Long Island!

>>Like this stop in New York in October, the same online flight tracker showed the governor did not use his official plane to get there, nor did he use it for any of the 15 out-of-state campaign fundraising trips that he made over the last 18 months.

We asked the Governor's office about the hike in travel expenses.

Spokesman Jeremy Redfern told us “The governor's travel is to conduct the state's business, including meeting with and hearing from Floridians as he was elected to do.

It wouldn't be right to only interact with Floridians residing in or traveling to Tallahassee.

” He added, “Reducing official travel is not the solution to ” what he calls “Biden's gas price spike, and it wouldn't make a meaningful difference.

” Clark says DeSantis may be starting a new trend.

>>Governors all over the country are learning from DeSantis that you have to be constantly campaign ing to keep your profile up there.

So I think this is going to become a way of life in Florida.

>>All right.

Erik Sandoval reporting.

Nice piece, Erik.

Can we expect more of this type of governing from the governor in his second term?

Does this offer a sort of a blueprint maybe for - fro other leaders?

>>Yes and yes.

He's already traveling the state, you know, since Election Day to get his message out there.

As for other leaders, you know, especially given the results of the last election and, you know, Republicans had wanted to do better, I think a lot more leaders are going to be looking at DeSantis and what he's been doing travel wise to get their messages out.

>>Yeah, it's interesting.

I mean, he's set to release his second book, right Daralene?

I mean, that's a sure fire sign he's running for president.

>>It certainly is.

And it's really what they're calling a memoir, a campaign style book.

And it's an introduction we hear in Florida.

And the nation, to a degree, has been introduced to the governor over the last two years.

But this is now an opportunity for people to really get to know Governor Ron DeSantis in a more intimate way.

And in addition, it also provides him an outlet to share his story in regards to not only his personal life, but some of the campaign measures that he has laid out here in the state of Florida, many of which, might I add, have received quite a bit of national attention.

And I think that is certainly intentional.

So yeah, I think people are going to want to read about Governor Ron DeSantis.

>>Introducing him more broadly to a national audience beyond the people that were just sort of fans of his policy here on the state level in Florida.

>>Absolutely and what has started to come with books when they release them.

Oh.

More travel.

You start to go around not only the state of Florida, but the country to introduce yourself and to sell your book, ingratiate yourself with people and fundraisers, potential donors.

And so there are some other books coming out early next year by some other potential, either running mates or rivals who could also be running.

And so this story is to be continued.

>>And that's a good point.

Yeah, they actually travel to promote their book after that.

>>It's a new thing now.

They start these book tours and speaking where they call them listening tours, where they sort of engage with audiences on a mass scale.

And you mentioned, of course, in your your piece there Erik that you traveled a lot during the midterms, campaigning for various candidates with with mixed success, of course, as we saw.

I mean, the governor hasn't said whether or not he is going to run, but the legislature is anticipating it, right?

How how might they help him run for president while staying in the governor's mansion?

>>Right.

Some legislators are going, okay, what can we do here?

Because there is a law on the books.

It's “Resign to Run.

” Basically is what its called.

>>In Florida.

>>If you hold an elected office in the state of Florida and you want to run for another elected office, you have to resign your position with the first office in order to run.

They are looking at tweaking the law a little bit to make that not necessarily so, possibly opening the door for the governor to run for president.

We'll see.

>>So he can remain in his position while he runs for that higher office.

I mean, one political analyst I talked to basically said there's a question about whether or not the governor is going to be intimately involved in this legislative session or whether he's going to be instead focused on his presidential run.

Do you think, Erik, if he does focus on the legislative agenda, if he has other things he wants to achieve in the state, he's going to get what he wants?

>>Oh, yeah.

I mean, he has a supermajority in Tallahassee right now.

So, you know, basically, if he proposes something, you know, his supporters are going to just rally around that legislation.

I mean, the constitutional right to carry is one of his big things that he wants to get done over the next six months or so.

>>He specifically mentioned that.

>>He specifically mentioned that.

And, you know, the supermajority is basically in his back pocket.

>>And I think this is also an avenue and an outlet, if you will, for some of his supporters in the state legislature to curry even more favor with the governor by sponsoring some of those measures.

And pushing them through for him on his behalf as he is, you know, maybe not as present there in Tallahassee as he has been in prior sessions.

>>We will take care of this.

We've got it.

>>Yeah.

Eric mentioned constitutional carry.

Another issue of course, which we saw play out in this session and could come up again is abortion.

Right.

And that's just been such a polarizing issue.

The governor hasn't said a whole lot about it, but he has sort of indicated that he might be willing to entertain some more limits.

Whatve Florida's new GOP leader said might be on the cards?

>>You know, we have spoken with Republican leaders.

My colleague Christopher Heath, just within the last couple of weeks, and they are teeing this up.

They are preparing to make this a focus.

Now, it will be interesting to see how intimately involved the governor, Ron DeSantis, is in this, because as we've spoken here previously, Steve, there is a delicate balance for him.

When we start talking about abortion, because there are some of his supporters, if you will, who when you start to talk about abortion, it's a different cup of tea.

So it will be interesting to see how how involved he is, if, in fact, that does become a priority for this next legislative session >>And sort of how voters feel about abortion.

We got a good taste of that in the midterms.

Right.

For example, with the results that we saw in Kentucky, for example, where not necessarily the party lines don't necessarily split, as you might expect on that issue.

One thing that interests me about this is that the governor seems to have built up his profile largely without traditional media.

He doesn't really speak to outlets like ours.

>>And he doesn't he it just doesn't happen.

>>He's managed to get to that point.

You know, I wonder if this is whether he's sort of likely to stick with that, especially as he goes into, you know, a potential presidential run.

>>Why wouldn't he?

>>I mean, because back to the travel story, he's basically controlling the narrative.

>>He is.

>>When he flies to Kissimmee, let's say, to hold a press conference about X, Y, Z, he's going to talk about X, Y, Z.

He'll take a few questions about something else, but that's what he's there to focus on.

So to your point, you know, when it comes to to answering questions or sitting down for a sit down interview with one of our stations.

>>It's not.

And I can remember a time when a governor, then Governor Rick Scott was in office and even then Governor Charlie Crist is in office.

After a news conference, I could go up to them with a microphone and ask additional follow up questions because as reporters, as journalists, that's what we do.

We push them for answers.

You know, there is this clip out there of me going after Governor Rick Scott at some point because of long lines during an election.

I was able to do that after a news conference.

You just can't do that now.

>>No.

>>With Governor Ron DeSantis, there is no access to him.

And so therefore, you know, voters really ought to be concerned about this because it's not just Governor Ron DeSantis.

There are other politicians who are making themselves very inaccessible to the media, and they are now working to control their own narratives by putting out what they want, when they want, and to whom and to which outlets they choose to do it to.

And when you start talking about putting information out to blogs and online media outlets, those elected leaders are then controlling the narrative and they're not being asked the questions that the voters and the people in our communities deserve to have answers to.

>>I think we've all interviewed candidates after campaign events, and that's become different than presidential campaign events.

For example, nowadays, candidates very rarely walk the rope line, you know, to meet with voters.

And that was often the chance that we would get to film those candid moments with the candidates.

And members of the public so things definitely changing on the campaign trail.

For sure, you can find more NewsNight interviews as well as past episodes of our program on our website, all at WUCF.org/NewsNight.

All right.

Finally tonight, let's talk about some environmental issues, starting with our beaches.

In a moment, we'll talk about the recovery from the recent hurricanes.

But first, NewsNights Krystel Knowles reports on a law passed this year that allows cities and counties to regulate and even ban smoking at beaches and parks.

>>In June, Governor DeSantis signed HB 105 into law.

Since then, municipalities across Florida didn't waste any time passing ordinances Indian Harbor Beach was one of the first.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of people visit Florida beaches.

If you're one of them, it's almost guaranteed that you'll see this and this often along with a whiff of smoke.

Indian Harbor Beach city manager John Coffey says the city wanted to ban smoking on its beaches for years at the request of residents.

But its hands were tied.

Now, under HB 105, cities can restrict smoking, even at county owned sites within their boundaries, just so long as the rules don't conflict with county ordinances.

>>And we quickly passed a few ordinances that allow us to regulate smoking.

So each of our parks and beaches have a small designated smoking area, and the rest is smoke free.

>>This is not the first Florida legislation to target smokers.

In 2002, voters approved a constitutional amendment to ban smoking in restaurants, bars and other indoor places that receive revenue from the sale of food.

Coffee says the recent ordinance in Indian Harbor Beach came with zero opposition and says so far nobody's been fined.

>>We try to have a proactive education process and most of the folks who have been smoking in non-designated areas and we when we go up and tell them that they cant anymore, that there's a designated area, they might grumble a little, but they comply.

Environmental groups say smoking is a worldwide problem for coastal eco systems.

The fibers in the cigarette butts are one of the most harmful forms of plastic in the world to marine life.

Critics point out that the law exempts local governments from banning unfiltered cigars.

But conservationists have broadly welcomed the new legislation.

And as if to illustrate the scale of the problem, volunteers in Indian Harbor Beach picked up about 800 cigarette butts during just one recent cleanup event.

>>Krystel Knowles reporting there.

Okay, Daralene, I mean, HB 125 This is an interesting one.

This was passed this year.

Quite a few jurisdictions, including in our area now, are picking up on this and banning beat smoking.

>>They are.

But the thing here is I don't really know how you enforce it.

I mean, you're out there in a public place.

I mean, the beach safety officials already have enough to deal with with people coming here and getting in the water when they're not supposed to be.

Who's going to be out there?

Really, the police.

>>And of course, we've got the holiday season coming up, right?

And a lot of people that visit our state probably won't be aware of these rules now.

>>And that's the thing with all the beaches they don't really know.

>>Are there rules at the beach?

Are there really rules?

>>That's right.

Just load up that cooler.

>>Exactly.

I mean, just just be quiet about it.

But, you know, on the beach with cigarette butts, you know, we did a story on beach cleanup not long ago earlier this year.

Cigarette butts don't degrade.

They get into the fish that we could possibly eat.

There's just.

It's not just unsightly.

It's unhealthy all the way around.

>>It's gross.

>>Yeah, it's gross.

That's my two cents which.

>>Which is why environmental groups have certainly welcome that legislation.

I want to talk about the the hurricane's impact on our beaches, the most immediate thing that's facing a lot of people.

We reported a couple of weeks on this show, a couple of weeks ago on this show about the devastation on the coastline in Volusia.

You've been looking at that in detail.

What are the plans looking back like for building back at the moment?

>>There's no plans yet that we know there's a lot of talk and there's a lot of closed door meetings with ideas.

But, you know, our reporting last week revealed that there's 430 miles of Florida coastline that were declared critically eroded before the storms hit.

And that included that whole stretch in Volusia County, where the homes in Wilbur by the sea in Daytona Beach Shores collapsed.

We do know that Florida Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie is actively involved in drumming up some ideas.

He says there's some great ideas on the table, and I applaud him for going to community, to community, to community, getting these ideas from environmentalists, from construction people, every sector that's going to be involved in this to to get results for for this community.

I know that he had a task force meeting, the first task force meeting last week.

So I think over the next few weeks, we're going to start seeing maybe a blueprint or a game plan of what that rebuilding looks like because there's no sand left in Volusia County right now that the the construction workers helping those homes that collapsed, they have to wait till low tide to even get their equipment out there.

>>It's interesting, though.

I mean, we saw, as Erik mentioned, all that that that damage along the coastline.

And we're going to see the second special session on insurance reform just starting on Monday.

Right.

>>Speaking of tough questions.

>>That's right.

Do we have an idea about what might come out of that session?

>>You know, it is very difficult because, look, unless the state of Florida is willing to do something to dial back the amount of money that is paid out to attorneys and the fees and all of that, it's a mess.

It really is.

I mean, people are suffering.

And I think that it will be interesting to see what, if anything, they can do to shore up our insurance market, because it's almost like it's too little, too late.

>>I mean, this is a special session, right, Erik?

That could have real world implications and a lot of people in our area.

>>It could.

But I mean, to your point, what's going to be done about it?

So far, they've already had that one special session to address this.

Very little was done, if anything substantial anyway and right before the holidays.

>>Right.

Interesting.

So, yeah, want to talk about inland for a moment, Erik.

I mean, Orange County has taken an important step in fixing those flood issues in Orlo Vista just over, the last few weeks.

They experienced a lot during hurricane Ian, what's going on there?

>>Ian?

I mean, just a random storm that's I mean, Orlo Vista got hit, they got some more money from FEMA.

Orange County did Orange County government, and they approved a plan to dig the stormwater ponds that are in that area about ten feet deeper.

And what they're what they're hoping is when the rainwater hits, it'll have more room to go versus overflowing the banks and getting into the Orlo Vista area.

They're also installing a new pump to help out with that effort.

It's not going to be quick, though.

>>No.

And the.

Okay.

So there are two things.

The Orange County had been waiting for this money for for a long time.

And here now they have it.

It's too late because the community, many of those homes are already, you know, just destroyed or partially uninhabitable.

>>And residents there had been asking for it for so long.

>>Yes, for decades, this is not a new issue.

But if this is not going to be done for at least like, what, another year and a half, two years.

And so by then, gosh, how many storms or flooding issues are we going to have before then?

But the other thing is that the county is still limited or restricted in terms of how much and how often it can pump water out of there.

And so you know, I just don't know that this is really going to be anything other than another Band-Aid.

I certainly hope it's going to be more than that.

But, my goodness, I feel like the folks in that community certainly deserve more and better.

>>And that's probably something that a lot of residents in these vulnerable communities can agree on for sure.

But that is all the time we have for this week, I'm afraid.

My thanks to Erik Sandoval, WKMG, Channel 6, and Daralene Jones, WFTV, Channel 9.

I know you guys are always really busy, so I really appreciate you spending a bit of your day with us.

That's it from all of us here at NewsNight, 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.

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