This is southwest Florida.

InFocus.

Coming up, legal issues continue against alligator.

Alcatraz.

Former detainees speak out about their time inside the immigration detention center, as environmental groups earn a big win in their lawsuit against the facility.

The battle against property taxes now overshadows the Florida legislative session.

Could a new proposal provide a much needed boost for our state's rural communities?

And we hit the track with one of the burgeoning stars of NASCAR from right here in Southwest Florida.

On the impact he's having on and off the track.

Hello, I'm Jennifer Crawford, former detainees at the immigration detention center known as Alligator Alcatraz.

We're at the Lee County courthouse this week testifying about the conditions they endured while inside the facility.

The testimony focused on whether detainees were granted the same access to attorneys as to those being held in the federally run facilities.

A federal judge has ruled that Alligator Alcatraz is a state run facility managed by the Florida Division of Emergency Management.

The lawsuit over the legal issues is one of two active suits against the immigration detention facility.

The other is focusing on the ongoing construction at the Dade call for Training and Transition Airport, and the impact it is having on the surrounding ecosystem.

WGCU's Kate Cronin shows us how a recent court decision could be turning the tide for environmental advocates attempting to stop activity at the center in Collier County.

I feel scared because every day something is new and the immigrants come into this country for a better life.

Roxana Torres protests weekly outside the detention center known as Alligator Alcatraz.

The facility is being sued for multiple reasons.

One being a claim about how detainees are treated, which includes Roxanne's husband.

The condition inside the alligator is terrible because if you somebody say something about the bad food, they put a private sale with cold temperature.

The food is terrible.

The water is contaminated.

Oh.

The person inside don't have a voice.

Another lawsuit against the detention center filed by environmental groups received a big win from a judge's ruling.

It included a court order requiring the Florida Division of Emergency Management to release public records concerning federal involvement with the facility.

The center for Biological Diversity, friends of the Everglades, and the Mega Cookie Tribe filed the lawsuit, claiming that Alligator Alcatraz causes an environmental concern to endangered and threatened species located within Big Cypress National Preserve.

Friends of the Everglades Executive Director Eve samples questions why no environmental impact studies have been done on possible damages to the surrounding wetlands.

There's a real irony in the state of Florida and the federal government having, done this with no public input and no concern from the environment.

When the state and federal government have also invested billions of dollars in Everglades restoration, it defies logic to have not analyzed the impacts there.

So I'm hoping that, our policymakers at the state and federal level will see that they have an investment to safeguard in the Everglades.

In August, a federal judge ordered the detention center to shut down, but that decision was appealed on the grounds that Alligator Alcatraz is not a federal facility and not subject to federal environmental law.

According to the state's emergency management Director of Communications, Stephanie Hartman, Alligator Alcatraz is open and operational and continues to support the detainment and deportation of illegal immigrants.

Friends of the Everglades believes there is evidence from as early as June that shows federal involvement with the facility, including a notice of award allocation to Florida for $608 million.

The group hopes these released records will be the next step toward shutting the facility down.

If this is purportedly it was about law and order, immigration law and order, right.

This detention center.

What about environmental law and order?

And for the Nikiski?

With ten villages within three miles of the facility, their home is impacted.

Miccosukee counsel Chairman Talbert Cypress said the Miccosukee tribe has a cultural and constitutional commitment to protect our traditional lands where at home in the Everglades and the Big Cypress, and we have a duty to protect the lands and waters that have protected us for generations.

For WGCU news, I'm Kate Cronin.

We are now joined by Megan Bowman, the community engagement reporter for WUSA.

Thank you so much for joining us, Megan.

Megan, you have been following the alligator Alcatraz, all the lawsuits and the legal challenges since its inception.

Can you give us the latest update on the environmental lawsuit?

Yeah.

So oral arguments happened, scheduled to start the week beginning April 6th.

If you remember the the case was actually shut down in October will not shut down.

It was paused.

And that was because federal attorneys put in an order basically saying, hey, we're furloughed during this shutdown.

We can't work.

So once the government open back up, you know, the plaintiffs and defendants have been filing all their paperwork, and oral arguments are scheduled to start April, the week of April 6th.

Governor Ron DeSantis has invested over $8 billion in Everglades restoration since 2019 to conserve the wetland environment.

How does our state government balance conservation versus construction inside a national preserve?

Well, I can tell you one person I spoke with, Clyde Butcher, who is a nature and landscape photographer and a huge advocate for preserving the area, definitely believes that the governor's actions are directly contradicting, his notes, right.

With, alligator Alcatraz.

So, like you said, the DeSantis administration has invested about 8 billion into restoring the Everglades.

What I can't say is the same administration that has invested those billions.

Also, fast track construction of the detention center, that was ready to go up and running in eight days, that we know that Big Cypress Preserve is home to really more than 100 endangered and threatened species, including the Florida panther.

How could other animals that call the preserve home be affected by the construction of the facility?

Well, you know, I don't know if you knew this, but Big Cypress is actually also an international dark sky place.

It's one of the few places you can see the Milky Way at night.

That light pollution is going to have really big impacts for a lot of the wildlife.

So center for Biological Diversity attorney Elise Bennett says they have heard lights from the detention center can be seen from up to 15 to 20 miles away.

We we actually were able to use NASA to look up some day to day light pollution.

And even their satellites picked up a substantial difference between 2022 and when the detention center opened last year.

Now, let's touch on, drinking water.

1 in 3 Floridians.

They rely on drinking water from the Everglades.

And that is according to the National Wildlife Federation, with the detention facility being built on top of this water source.

What concerns are there for wastewater runoff and soil pollution?

Attorneys have a lot of concerns about pollution runoff.

You know, there's things they're working.

You have generators going all day.

You have jet fuel being trucked in and tricked out, sewage trucked in and trucked out.

And there's just this constant activity at the site.

And even when I went and visited the site, some of the places off of the Tamiami Trail, you know, a while ago, you used to be able to drive down and, and you would just hear nature.

And, and just, you know, in the past few months when I've been down there, you have to go pretty far to stop hearing the sound, even of the cars.

Once again, Megan Pohlman, the community engagement reporter for USF.

Thank you for your expertise and for joining us.

Thank you so much for having me.

After the break, the elimination of property taxes has been at the center for this year's state legislative session.

But is the conversation a distraction from other important issues for Floridians?

State lawmakers are now in the third week of Florida's annual 60 day legislative session.

Here now to give us an update on how things are going in the state Capitol.

We are joined by political science professor Doctor Sandra Pavelka of FGCU and of course, WGCUs John Davis.

Welcome.

Thank you.

Welcome.

Governor Ron DeSantis priority of reducing or eliminating homestead property taxes was really expected to take center stage during this session.

Can you give us an update on this measure?

Well, it certainly has been taking center stage.

You may recall there were a number of House proposals that had been brought forth before session started.

One advanced through the House Ways and Means Committee late last week.

This was the proposal that would incrementally reduce the homestead tax exempt or rather increase the homestead tax exemption over the course of a decade until non-school property taxes were allowed, will be eliminated in 2037.

Now, we also saw house makers just on Monday hold a press conference, kind of criticizing how much air in the room this issue was taking up, saying it's dominating session and sort of taking away interest from other important issues, and they have not really moved on it in the Senate.

The House still has to move through the House for that, for a full, complete House vote for a supermajority.

By the way, John, right.

Where this this session, the House has to vote because it has to do with property taxes at 60%, a supermajority.

Then it would go to the Senate for a Senate vote of 60% of a vote.

Really a comparable bill.

And then it would have to go to the to the governor who says he would support it and ultimately to the voters, which would also have to be a supermajority, because it has to do with our taxes.

However, this is not a priority to most or for most of the voters in our in our state.

But a new Florida Policy Institute study finds that most Florida voters find the cost of property insurance a much higher priority than property taxes.

And I will say, I still have a great deal of concern about this, because the Florida Department of Economic and Demographic Research has still not released a study about the feasibility of eliminating property taxes in terms of how much money that brings in to local governments to fund essential services.

We don't know where that funding would be made up from in any of these proposals.

And the governor himself, having been touting this almost for a year since last February, has not put forth any sort of policy proposal himself.

Well, let's move on to our Senate President, Dan Albritton.

He is really pushing this rural renaissance legislative package.

Can you explain what that is and what the status is?

Oh, absolutely.

Well, just a little background.

Florida Senate President Albritton is from Bartow, and that's primarily a rural area.

He also is, I think, a fourth generation, a citrus grower, grower and farmer.

And so this is really important.

This is actually part of his legacy as he leaves the Senate.

And so this is something that he worked on last year.

It didn't really go anywhere.

And this year they're looking to, really move it through both the Senate and the House.

It did pass the Senate.

It includes four specific provisions.

One is for economic development, one is for infrastructure, education and health care.

So each of those has components within it.

And it's something that again, it's passed the Senate.

But it hasn't really, gained any momentum in the House.

So we'll have to see where it goes.

The other thing is DeSantis said he would support it.

So it would be interesting to see, you know, what what the house does with with this bill and the impact of, of agriculture in the state of Florida.

Huge.

This is this would have a huge impact.

Absolutely.

It's a $152 million, appropriations bill.

Really?

The economic impact is about 240 million, for an industry.

This is this is incredible.

The agricultural industry, which is it includes citrus, sugar cane, sock, etc.. Chattel.

Chattel, right.

Is, $8.8 billion in the state of Florida.

So this can only help a very struggling farming community at this point.

That's an astounding impact.

It sure is.

Another measure that we talked about was a voter eligibility database that is being created.

And, it does have bipartisan support.

It does have bipartisan support.

This actually advanced to a legislative committee Monday.

You hear the term voter eligibility database that might raise some red flags.

But in this case this is sponsored by, Democrat Tina Polsky.

And this goes back to the historic 2018 amendment that Florida voters approved, restoring voting rights to former felons.

Then a few years later, the state created, kind of a law enforcement agency just to go after election crimes.

And you may remember, there were some high profile arrests of former felons who thought their voting rights had been restored.

They'd even been issued voter registration cards by their county supervisor of elections office, and they were being arrested for voting because just the information wasn't easily available to find out if their voting rights had been restored.

So this would just create a reliable database for anybody to be able to go and find out if they're really eligible to vote.

Well, it is nice to see bipartisan support for some of these measures as well.

Have that for sure.

Thank you so much, Doctor Pavelka.

And of course, John Davis.

Thank you for the update and for joining us.

Thank you so much.

For fans of stock car racing, Daytona is more than just a racetrack.

It's the premier destination where NASCAR pilgrims meet every year to kick off the season for driver and Port Charlotte native Josh Williams.

He's hoping a return to a familiar racing family will lead to capturing plenty of checkered flags.

WGCUs Teddy Byrne caught up with Williams before he attempts to conquer the Daytona International Speedway?

As fans gear up for the Great American race, we are joined by Josh Williams, a Port Charlotte legend who competes on the O'Reilly Auto Parts series.

Josh, thank you for joining us.

Yeah, man, thanks for having me.

It's, cool.

We'll get a little floor action going on here.

Well, that's why I can tell you're up in North Carolina.

Nice and cold there.

Couple of weeks you're going to be coming back down to the old Sunshine State, where things kick off in Daytona, and now you're looking to qualify for the United Rentals 300.

But what is it about the Daytona motor Speedway that makes it special for drivers and even fans?

Daytona is just super cool, man.

It's got a lot of history.

The racing is wild.

You never know what's going to happen.

You know, the draft is a great equalizer, right?

With the track being big like that.

You can take opportunities that you might not have at different track.

So, I enjoy Daytona, you know, of course, because I'm a Florida boy.

Right?

So, being able to, to go to a place like that and to race on the same track as some of the greats is just something super special.

And now you're getting back to it this year.

But last season there were some highs and lows.

You got released by Kaulig racing.

And then how do you recover from a separation like that, especially once it happens mid race season?

Yeah, I think for us it's it's actually a blessing in disguise really.

You know, we kind of had different views and opinions on things and, and we really weren't, weren't driving together.

So, I think it worked out good.

You know, for both parties, they got the opportunity to, to, to move on and into the next chapter that they're starting.

You know, with moving the, you know, backwards in NASCAR to, to the Truck Series.

So, and for us, you know, it gave us opportunity to, to kind of look at other options and, and to, to grow our partners.

And now, because of that separation, you did miss a couple of races, but despite that, you still finish in the top 25 of the points standings.

So is that something you can use to carry momentum into the upcoming season?

Yeah, I think so.

You know, we've had good success over the years and, and a lot of these racetracks.

And, you know, we ran really well, especially with, with the new team.

You know, I'm going back to DGM racing, which is a Florida based team in Lake Wales.

So you know, being being able to be back with those guys and, and just keep that momentum going.

I mean, we've got really good chemistry over there.

There's great people.

And I'm looking forward to it.

So I think, I think we're gonna have a good year.

We're going to show a lot of people how good we really are.

So now, three years ago, you made headlines when you parked at the start finish line at the Atlanta motor Speedway.

Now, I when I was reading up, people were saying that this was your coming out moment.

You become a fan favorite because of it.

So when you look back on that, how did you use this as leverage to raise awareness for, I guess, underfunded teams?

And then what have you learned that has made this to make you become more of a leader on and off the track?

You know, the biggest thing is like the, a lot of people call me old school.

Cool, right?

So, there's not many old school racers left, and I think, you know, me showing the fans that, hey, you know, this guy's old school.

Like, he he went out and he kind of showed him what he thought in a roundabout way.

So, it's just really good because it brought a lot of attention, you know, to DGM itself at the time the team was around for.

So, I don't think there's anything that bad that came out of it other than my one week suspension.

But, everything else was positive for sure.

And then you are also helping to shape the next generation of NASCAR fans.

You have become known for your hospital visits with children, especially on race weekend, where you still take the time to meet with kids.

I saw that you take their handprints and sometimes work that into your car design there.

What has driven you to make this part of your initiative as both a driver and giving back to the community?

Man, we've been doing this for for a long time.

You know, the Josh Williams Hospital tour.

And, you know, when I first started doing it, you know, is I mean, it's still super emotional, right?

And, you know, especially now that I'm a dad and it's, you know, it it definitely hits hard.

But, you know, just to be able to give back to them and, and, you know, hang out with them for a little while and show them a good time and, you know, just let them know that there's people out there that care for them and, you know, to to do our handprint activity with the kids.

And, and it doesn't matter how they do their handprint, it is 100% accurate on the car, the last race of the season every year.

So, it's cool for them.

They kind of get to follow along a little bit.

And, and I tell them all the time I'm like, look, this is the fastest, fastest flying hand you're ever going to see.

So it's cool to to kind of show those kids that we care, but also introduce them to the sport if they don't know anything about the sport as well.

It gives them something to look forward to, something to follow.

And, you know, just growing the fan base and just out there showing kids that we care.

Well, Josh, thank you for taking the time to talk to us and best of luck at Daytona.

Thank you.

Yes.

Florida boys party girl.

Stay inside.

It's chilly.

Hey, you get to warm up in a couple of days here when the race starts there.

So you'll be all set and Flamin Hot.

Exactly.

All right.

Thank you guys.

Have a good one.

Providing faith during an emergency.

Coming up, we learn about the role emergency chaplains play during moments of crisis.

When you think of emergency situations and natural disasters, firefighters, police officers and sheriff deputies, as well as paramedics probably come to mind.

Then there are those who often work side by side with those same people.

And as WGCUs Bryant Monteilh shows us, they do it during some of life's toughest moments.

Being there for them, to support them, to hear them, to encourage them is the role that, I play as a as a chaplain in the Florida.

We have, disaster every year.

We have Oken.

And people need support and emotional and spiritual, and this is what we do.

It's a beautiful ministry.

Be because you deal with situation that the person be going through the work of a chaplain often comes during life's most crucial and traumatic times.

Now, their mission is to provide that spiritual and emotional support during those critical moments.

It's a servant position where I'm with families during funerals, when there's a homicide, you know, being called out, being there with the family, that's that's ministering, to those to those people.

Ricky Anderson has served as a chaplain for law enforcement in southwest Florida for more than two decades.

Just being there for them is most important.

He's been there for those first responders who see and experience traumatic situations.

What I think shook up people was the number of deaths, after Ian because never experienced that many deaths.

And I remember hearing one of the deputies talk about how he tried to save this man and woman.

He was able to see the woman, but wasn't able to say to me, and he got to live with that the rest of his life, you know, because you're trying to do what you feel is best, and then you kind of like, feel like you failed.

So my role at that point is to help that deputy understand you done what you could do.

And when it's beyond your control, there's nothing you can do.

Chaplains are a part of our military, local and federal governments, law enforcement agencies, hospitals, prisons and schools.

They're referred to as a minister in the work force, providing spiritual support to people from various backgrounds and beliefs.

Instead of ministering from the pulpit, like at a la Garcia from Sigma, which stands for Chaplain Emergency Management Agency.

I think the most important is emotional support because many people lost your house.

And needed support for for emotional.

Sometimes we have to get in the trenches, and that's what I believe that I need to do, and I've done that.

Chaplains often serve without being paid.

Instead, like Israel Suarez, chaplain for the Fort Myers Police Department, they seek a higher calling.

And what money can I buy?

I'm not here for the money.

I'm here because he's more.

And his spirit and I follow Jesus.

A philosophy, social and spiritual.

I love to do the job because this job give me something special.

I think it's something from God.

When I help somebody, I'm not waiting for somebody to pay for this job.

I will receive from God.

I don't get paid for what I do.

You know, church take care of me.

So I just do this as a servant because Jesus says I came not to be served, but to serve.

So that's what I do.

I just serve chaplains, a calling, a service, a way to help and minister to those who experience firsthand tragedy and loss.

I feel good on the inside knowing that I was able to help somebody.

For WGCU news, I'm Bryant Monteilh Coming up next week, the Sunshine State is in the midst of an extended dry season, and experts are now concerned these conditions are a breeding ground for brushfires.

Thanks for joining us.

So make sure you download the WGCU app where you'll find all of our stories, plus those extended interviews.

Have a great weekend.

We look forward to seeing you again next week right here on Southwest Florida.

InFocus.