Florida

The 10-acre “eco-fantastic” property has solar power and a reverse-osmosis water filtration system

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Construction workers say they are losing their jobs because employers fear Florida’s new immigration law.

“All the construction work stopped, at least where I worked in Miami,” said Pedro Marcos. For the last five years, he has worked in construction; however, he now works temporarily at nurseries in Homestead.

The Guatemalan native said, “Since I have a family, I have to work on whatever is necessary… landscaping, nurseries, painting.”

CBS News Miami’s Ivan Taylor asked Marcos when he worked last on construction. “It was about 15 days ago… I stopped working on construction after Governor (Ron) DeSantis signed the Immigration Bill. The people who would hire us got scared and – allegedly – told us not to come back.”

Marcos said two of his coworkers left for another state where they can work (on construction).

The new immigration law, signed by Governor DeSantis which goes into effect July 1st , requires private employers with 25 or more employees to confirm workers’ immigration status through a system known as E-verify.

Employers who fail to do that would be subject to audits and face fines of up to $1,000 (a day), if found to have violated the law.

Over the weekend, many like Marcos marched at Homestead City Hall. They said they want to be visible. Some brought their children, many of whom were born in the U.S.

CBS News Miami asked Marcos if he was planning on leaving the state.

“The truth, I’m not planning to leave, I’m going to stay, at least for now. I just want politicians to understand us, we do the work nobody else wants to do.”

LONGWOOD, Fla. (FLV) – Lyman High School in Seminole County decided to offer refunds and reprint the books following criticism received for featuring a section in their yearbook that provided definitions for terms like “gender fluid” and “pansexual.”

Parents expressed their outrage towards school for including a two-page spread in the yearbook that featured a list of various sexualities and LGBTQ+ terms.

Jessica Tillmann, chair of the Seminole County chapter of Moms for Liberty, voiced her concern to the Orlando Sentinel, stating that the definitions featured in the yearbook were not suitable for the age group of the students.

“They shouldn’t have any sexual definitions in a yearbook,” she said. “This is a yearbook that goes to every student as young as 14.”

Others, like year book’s editor-in-chief, defended the content against the barrage of criticism, stating that “we didn’t do anything wrong.”

“To be fair, it was supposed to have the opposite effect, which was to be more inclusive and more understanding and just gain that perspective,” she said.

The controversy surrounding Lyman High School’s yearbook arises amidst the ongoing discussion about the enacted Parental Rights in Education law, referred to as the “Don’t Say Gay” law by critics, which restricts discussions related to sexuality and gender in kindergarten through third-grade classrooms.

Gov. Ron DeSantis recently signed a bill that would expand those restrictions to PreK-8th grades. The State Board of Education also prohibited gender teachings through 12th grade with some exceptions.

It’s time to get serious about your hurricane preparations.

Build a hurricane kit and know your zone and be ready to evacuate.

Those three things will make all the difference in the world should a hurricane strike.

“I don’t think there’s anything that can compare or give you any warning to what you’re going to see,” said Tammy Crum, a homeowner.

As a new hurricane season begins, Crum reflects on how far her neighborhood as come.

At her home in Orange Harbor after Hurricane Ian, a two-by-four pierced the roof and there was mud and twisted metal everywhere.

“We just kind of were in shock really,” she said.

Like many homes in the waterfront community, there was heavy damage along the shores of the Caloosahatchee and Orange Rivers.

From the WINK News drone you can see the empty pads and lots for sale.

“We had 18 People call 911 in the height of the storm, and they were told we’ll see you tomorrow,” said John Schoellner, community association manager.

It was the worst he has ever experienced.

“One woman said the water came in about three feet in that house. Three feet high, and she got up on her kitchen counter. That’s where she laid, weathered the storm out,” he said.

Nearly every home had water in it, with the wind ripping up carports and roofs.

The damage is still evident with entire homes gutted by the storm surge and left abandoned.

Rebuilding won’t be easy.

Schoellner said the park had never seen water that high.

“There were boats and boat lifts along this canal going towards the Orange River, and they were washed off or broke off,” he said.

One of those was Crum’s boat.

“Luckily, the boat went across the road there, and we were able to get it back fairly quickly,” she said.

Soon, the Crums will be back in their new home, lifted 5 feet higher, strapped down for stability and protected with hurricane windows.

“So, we really feel like we did what we could do to help our situation in the future, and we feel very comfortable that if, if something were to happen again, that we would be good,” Crum said.

Schoellner said, “I think when the hurricane warning comes out, they’ll put all their loose stuff away that they sometimes don’t do, and they will leave the park earlier than they have in the past. I mean, it was a real eye-opener.”

Another great way to prepare for hurricane season is to watch WINK News’ hurricane special on Wednesday night at 8 p.m. for hurricane season 2023.