State: Around the state

Around the state

Compiled from Times wires

Governor supports DNA tests of death row inmates

TALLAHASSEE -- Gov. Jeb Bush says he supports DNA testing of death row inmates who say the test can provide evidence to reverse their convictions.

"It has always been my position that whenever DNA evidence could prove innocence of a convicted person, that person should be afforded the opportunity to have necessary testing," Bush said in a letter to state Sen. Alex Villalobos, R-Miami, who is looking at ways to set up such testing.

Lawmakers are mulling whether to allow the examinations, which would cost an estimated $1,500 and be done by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's crime lab. However, the tests would only be available to convicted murderers facing execution.

Last month a DNA test proved that Frank Lee Smith was wrongly convicted of the rape and murder of an 8-year-old girl in Fort Lauderdale in 1985. But his exoneration came 11 months after he died of cancer at age 52 after spending 14 years on death row.

Wind insurance rate process may be changed

TALLAHASSEE -- Windstorm insurance rates that nearly doubled for some coastal residents last summer may spur change in how the Legislature lets the state's wind pool determine rates, some lawmakers said Wednesday.

Bipartisan proposals to limit the Florida Windstorm Underwriting Association's ability to raise rates are backed by new Republican Insurance Commissioner Tom Gallagher. The Legislature is controlled by the GOP.

The FWUA is a state-created insurance pool providing coverage to some 430,000 people where private insurers refuse to cover wind damage. Most of the policies are in Monroe, Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.

Officials at the windstorm association argue that the provider's rates have long been too low, and a 1999 legislative study found its rates were below those of insurance companies that voluntarily provide coverage.

FWUA rate increases averaging 90 percent came in July 2000. Then-Insurance Commissioner Bill Nelson denied the increase, but was overturned by a state arbitration panel.

Now a group of lawmakers is pushing a bill that would eliminate that arbitration panel, giving Gallagher final veto power over the association's actions.

The bill also would cut the number of insurance company representatives on the FWUA board. They now number 12 out of 15 members.

Meningitis is suspected cause of student's death

GROVELAND -- A 17-year-old student at South Lake high School in Clermont is believed to have died from bacterial meningitis Tuesday.

James Adam Willis died hours after being taken to a hospital with symptoms of the disease, which is an infection of spinal cord fluid.

The Lake County Health Department sent letters to parents of nearly 200 students who took classes with Willis, warning that the disease can be contracted from prolonged contact with an infected person. Symptoms, which can develop quickly, include high fever, intense headache, nausea, stiff neck and a red rash. The disease is treatable with antibiotics.

Health officials suspect Willis had meningococcal meningitis, the most virulent form. It is blamed for 18 deaths in Florida in 1999, according to the Florida Department of Health.