Several commissioners have raised questions about how the center would be funded in future years, but no one has been more outspoken in throwing up roadblocks designed to keep the center from opening than Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins.

Earlier this month, Cohen Higgins made a motion at the Intergovernmental and Economic Impact Committee requiring the mayor to come up with a plan explaining how the county was going to pay for the center for the next ten years. And she called on the mayor to "specifically identify what you are not going to fund in order to fund this building."

It wasn't on the agenda. The public wasn't informed in advance. And it passed without any discussion.

On its face, what she proposed may seem reasonable, but that's really not how the budgeting process works.

Commissioners don't require the mayor to announce today what programs she's going to cut in four years to pay for the senior meals program in 2030, or ask her how many people will she lay off in 2035 to fund the parks department in nine years?

In response to Cohen Higgins' maneuver, the venerable downtown publication Miami Today, accused her of offering false praise for the center while trying to bury the project in red tape. The paper argued the commissioner, who is up for reelection this year, was attempting to put "nails in the coffin of a center that has wide support" by creating "an insurmountable barrier that no other county project has ever faced."

In an interview on Sunday's Facing South Florida, Cohen Higgins defended her actions saying she was trying to be fiscally responsible.

"I understand the urgency, I understand the need, and I understand what the voters voted for way back when in 2004," she told CBS Miami's Jim DeFede. "I believe that the center needs to be opened. Frankly I'm extremely disappointed that this project has been worked on for the better part of twenty years and it was initially presented to us in committee review with only two years funding. That is of great concern for all of the committee members. And so we want the hard work to be done on the front end, to identify where this money is going to come from in order to fund this important project. And I think we can get there. We just don't want to leave it up to chance."

The program is fully funded for at least the first two years. Proponents of the center say they wanted to start with a two-year pilot program to prove that it works before asking the county to make a longer commitment. That prudence by supporters of the center, including County Commissioner Raquel Regalado and Judge Steve Leifman, is now being used against them to keep the center in limbo.

"As I said this at the committee hearing, I think you're telling us to just trust you that you'll figure it out," Cohen Higgins said. "We don't feel comfortable with that. Again, we're talking about lives here. We're talking mentally ill patients. Can you imagine, if one of your loved ones is sitting in that center on treatment and two years in, or at whatever point the funding runs out, you get the information that your loved one is going back to our correctional facility. That is a tragedy we are trying to avoid."

Cohen Higgins was referring to a statement made by Commissioner Regalado in December during an appropriations committee hearing on the center.

When Cohen Higgins kept asking officials what would happen to the folks in the center if the money ran out in two years, and Regalado snapped, "they go back to jail."

Regalado admits she was wrong to say what she said and the reason she misspoke was out of frustration Cohen Higgins kept asking questions that had already been answered.

Essentially what Regalado was trying to say was that if the program ends after two years, the jail goes back to doing what it is doing right now – warehousing mentally ill people.

But where Cohen Higgins appears to be somewhat disingenuous, is that despite Regalado's mistake, she was then given the correct answer a moment later by the county staff, who explained that no one would be sent back to jail.

They explained that if the county decided to end the program after two years, they would wind it down and stop diverting new people into the facility.

And yet, more than four months after that meeting, she continues to make this false argument that if the program abruptly ends, a building full of vulnerable mentally ill people will be cruelly tossed back into jail cells.

She makes it seem like this building will be some sort of permanent condo for paranoid schizophrenics and once they go in they don't come out.

The program is designed for small groups of individuals to enter the building, get the treatment they need for up to 90 days, and then they are transferred to other programs who help them with their transition back into the community by finding them housing and making sure they get the follow up care they need. Once that happens, the county's responsibility for them ends.

Cohen Higgins knows that. Or at least she should.

But for the sake of argument, let's say this program financially can only last for two years. Judge Leifman and others believe the program will not only save lives but will also save the county money.

But let's say he's wrong. And let's say, in the future, county commissioners decide that instead of prioritizing helping people with mental illnesses they would rather spend money on rodeos and parades and all the other things they find funding for.

In those two years, this program will likely help between 500 and 600 people with mental illnesses get the treatment they need – treatment that has been denied to them up till now.

So while some commissioners are worrying about where the money will come from in the future – people who are struggling today aren't getting any help.

Cohen Higgins, however, continues to say she fully supports the project, she just wants the funding lined up first.

"We can't argue that we spent $50 million and we have to respect the vote of our residents from 2004 and then at the time say it's just a pilot program and we're only going to fund it for two years," she said. "We're either going to pull this trigger and we are going to adopt this method in Miami-Dade County or we are not. We're going to honor the will of the voters back in 2004, and respect the $50 million investment that we made, buckle down and fund this thing into the future, or we're just going to treat it like a pilot program. Since I've been in office, we have not done pilot programs regarding people's lives and their mental health. It's far too delicate of an issue."

Next month, the county commission will hold a workshop – it's at least the second or third they have had on the mental health center - where they will continue to talk about how important this center is.

It's unclear if that talk turns into action.

Slamming Amazon's pull-out

Cohen Higgins is also urging the county to take legal action against Amazon for the "cavalier manner" they announced they were closing a facility in South Miami Dade and laying off thousands of workers.

In 2024, Amazon had been granted a no-bid deal for the land used to build a fulfillment center in the southern part of the county. In return the company agreed to bring jobs to the area and hire employees with an average salary of $32,000 a year. But now the company has announced they were closing the facility.

"How are we laying off 1,000 people, particularly in this economic environment?" she asked. "And it turns out that they signed a minimum annual guarantee with Miami-Dade County for 17 years." 325 minimum full-time jobs at a minimum of $332,000.

"And so I said, no, you have this minimum annual jobs guarantee, you have to hold accountable to that contract," she added. "We've been speaking with Amazon. We've being trying to reach a consensus here. We haven't reached one yet. But they have to make good on the promises that they've made, especially when they were able to get such a good deal and be able to acquire that land without any competition."

"The Governor clearly designs this process to be secret, late, and throw as many obstacles as possible in the path of actually having fair districts," she told CBS Miami's Jim DeFede. "The most obvious reason for this special session to redistrict our map is that they're responding to both Trump's call for states that Republicans run to come in and politically gerrymander. The result is that legislators are choosing their voters, not the other way around."

In an interview on Facing South Florida, Wasserman Schultz said the Governor's efforts to redraw the maps will almost certainly violate the Fair Districts constitutional Amendment voters in Florida passed in 2010 that prohibits political gerrymandering.

"The voters were very clear that they wanted to prohibit the Legislature and the Governor [from] intentional political partisan gerrymandering, intentional incumbent gerrymandering," she told CBS Miami's Jim DeFede. "They wanted to make sure that districts included whole cities and counties so that [voters] could actually know who represented them."

Asked how this effort in Florida is any different than the actions taken recently by states like California and Virginia to eliminate Republican seats, Wasserman Schultz noted that in both those cases, the maps were approved by voters. And she noted the Fair District Amendment makes Florida unique.

"Our state specifically, in our constitution with a 63% [approval in 2010] by our voters prohibited partisan gerrymandering, incumbent gerrymandering, required the districts to be inclusive of whole cities and counties to the degree possible," she said.

In other news, Wasserman Schultz said she thought Sheila Cherfilus McCormick made the right decision in resigning from Congress. Cherfilus McCormick was facing an almost certain vote for expulsion from the House after her indictment in federal court for allegedly stealing $5 million in FEMA funds and a House Ethics Committee report that found she violated more than two dozen House rules.

"My reaction to her resignation is that that was a decision that made the most sense because she now can concentrate on her defense and on the necessity to get a just resolution and a fair hearing in the legal proceedings and judicial process," she said. "It was the right outcome for her constituents because this is a large shadow – very serious allegations, serious and disturbing allegations related to federal funding. So, the distraction and cloud that hung over her was impeding her ability to effectively represent her constituents."

"Look, I think that a lot of these members were by their own admission, guilty of breaking house ethics and our rules we conduct ourselves by," Luna told CBS Miami's Jim DeFede. "I know that there are a lot of accusations, obviously very horrifying accusations. And I think a criminal probe regarding Representative Swalwell, which I will continue to send any information I get to the authorities. But this type of behavior can't be tolerated. I don't think that they're the only ones. As you know, there's an $18 million Congressional slush fund that's been paid out since the 90s. So obviously, there's a huge issue with that here on Capitol Hill. The more we find out about it, the more we're just going to say it's time to take out the trash."

"I think that basic human dignity and upholding the law is pretty much a no-brainer," she continued. "I think we have to have a zero tolerance when we find out about it, if there's evidence, we have to expel."

Luna said she expects Florida Democrat Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick to be the next member who either resigns or gets expelled.

"Look, if there's evidence for wrongdoing, breaking the law, breaking house conduct, or engaging in illegal activity, then that person needs to go," she said. "I frankly don't care about the party affiliation. These are all adults here. They make their decisions, and I'm not going to be expected to vote to cover for them. I don't work for these people's offices. So, for me, I frankly don't like being associated with people, for example, like in Sheila's case, that's steal $5 million in FEMA funds. We are not the same. And so for them to come up here and to have all of this mess happening, it just simply is a distraction from the work that we're all here to do. And I frankly am ready to get back to the work of the American people and so the sooner that we can get that type of behavior gone the better."

"Are we OK with being told to wait when lives are on the line?" said Quanda Dupree, of the St. Peters Missionary Baptist Church.  "Or do we believe real accountability means keeping your word? Even when things aren't guaranteed. We believe our communities deserve more than a delayed response. We deserve action."

The center – which was promised to voters back in 2004 – would take mentally ill individuals out of the jail and move them into a place where they can receive comprehensive treatment and support. The county has spent more than $50 million renovating the building and two years ago, a pair of non-profit groups were selected to operate the facility while numerous local groups and agencies have pledged their support, including the Homeless Trust. Funding for the first two to three years of the center is already in place.

And yet, the center remains empty – not helping anyone.

An event took place to emphasize the need for the mental health center

The organization that hosted the event was PACT – People Acting for Community Together. The President of PACT is Reverend Sherlain Stevens, of the Ebenezer United Methodist Church.

"We come from different traditions," she told the crowd. "We speak different languages. We live in different neighborhoods. But we are united in one mission. And that mission is to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. We're not here simply to attend an event. We are living out of faith and putting our beliefs into motion. Because loving our neighbor means more than kind words. It means making sure our neighbors have safe housing. It means, making sure, our neighbors have mental health care. And we all live in communities where everyone is treated with dignity and respect. No matter what our faith is, we stand in a long line of leaders who refuse to accept injustice as normal. That should not be the status quo."

Many of the speakers noted that getting the center open was a matter of life and death for some in the community. And in perhaps the most powerful moment of the evening, Adam Saper, a former public defender, told the story of a young man whose life was lost as the center remained closed.

"When I met Jordan, he was locked up for taking food and water while living on the street. But that's not where his story started," he explained. "Jordan grew up in a loving family in a two-story townhouse in the suburbs. In elementary school, Jordan escaped a house fire that claimed the life of his two younger brothers.

"By his early 20s though, an untreated mental illness threatened Jordan's future," Saper continued. "For years, he wound in and out of court until a judge eventually sentenced Jordan to die in prison. Our system is simply not prepared to help people like Jordan. And so he was thrown away. For years we searched for a way to right this wrong. And we found hope. In the promise that this community made back in 2004 to open a center for mental health and recovery, a place where Jordan's mental illness would be recognized as part of his humanity, somewhere he could live with care, treatment, and respect. That promise helped us reduce Jordan's sentence, and after nearly a decade in prison, he could come home, not to the streets, but to the life in the center, as we then called it. But when the day came for Jordan's release, the center wasn't open. It was built but unfunded. So instead of putting Jordan in treatment, we did the best we could and we found apartment. Jordan's new home didn't come with mental health professionals, it didn't come with a transition plan, no medication, no therapy, no care. The county chose to put our money elsewhere. And Jordan, he too chose a different path. Fed up with not being seen as human, Jordan left his apartment one evening, turned west, and only a few blocks later, walked out onto the railroad tracks and took his own life. He wasn't supposed to be there. He was supposed to receive care. We made a promise to Jordan. The county broke that promise, and Jordan paid the ultimate price."

Important Miami-Dade political figures also attended the event, saying they will push to open the center 

Mayor Daniella Levine Cava was there, reaffirming her support. County Commissioners Raquel Regalado, who has been leading the fight for the center, and Oliver Gilbert were there to say they would continue to push to get the center open.

Gilbert said it was a mistake that the delay seems to be grounded in the notion that the center should have to pay for itself, by diverting people away from the jail. Supporters of the project believe it will save money, but Gilbert stressed that shouldn't be the litmus test.

"I support the facility. I support opening it. I disagree with this dialog completely," he said. "We set up this paradigm where we believe this service has to pay for itself. I think that was the wrong approach. I think that's the wrong conversation. Services don't necessarily have to pay for themselves in this way. I've had family members who were mentally ill, I don't want them treated in jail, I want them treated in the facility. If we can do that, we should do that. I am willing to commit tax dollars to do that."

Commissioner Vicki Lopez had said she would attend but cancelled at the last minute, saying she had a family emergency.

The remaining county commissioners didn't respond to PACTs request.

"It is disappointing to me that they were not able to make it here tonight," said Reverend Jess Williams of the First United Methodist Church of Coral Gables. "And for those who didn't respond to our invitation at all, it saddens me. And I think that it's important for all of us to continue to make our voice heard, to put pressure on them and that they should be coming in front of the people they represent. They claim to care about us. They have been elected by us. We need to continually put them in the right position."

Reverend Williams said he was particularly frustrated that his own commissioner, Natalie Milian Orbis, wasn't there. In fact, he said he has tried repeatedly to meet with her, but so far, she has refused to see him.

Orbis did not respond to a request for an interview.

Orbis was appointed last year to the county commission and is on the ballot for the first time this August.

But if PACT officials had hoped the county would move quickly on opening the center, they received their answer on Wednesday, when a small cadre of commissioners voted to delay the project further. On Wednesday, at the very end of the county commission's Intergovernmental and Economic Impact Committee – Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins, brought up the mental health center and what she derisively called "a very coordinated campaign with the media" to push for the building to be opened.

Cohen Higgins made a motion requiring the mayor to come back with a plan explaining how the county was going to pay for the center for the next ten years. And she called on the mayor to "specifically identify what you are not going to fund in order to fund this building."

Commissioners Vicki Lopez and Natalie Orbis quickly voted in favor of the motion – delaying any vote on opening the center for at least another two months.

Uthmeier was asked several times during a press conference in Miami this week whether he had formally requested that the judge overseeing the grand jury keep the findings secret.

"I don't think anybody cares about this topic any more than the liberal media," he said. "Again, there was a grand jury proceeding under Florida law; the contents thereof are confidential. That's not my choice. That is Florida law. What I can tell you is I have not been indicted. I've not been a suspect or a target. I have not been involved in any criminal activity. Nobody did anything wrong here."

Last year, a grand jury was empaneled in Leon County to investigate possible criminal wrongdoing after the DeSantis administration secretly diverted $10 million from a Medicaid settlement with the state into the Hope Florida Foundation. That taxpayer money eventually ended up in a political action committee controlled by Uthmeier and used as part of the governor's campaign against the marijuana amendment in 2024.

At the time the funds were diverted, Uthmeier was DeSantis' chief of staff. DeSantis later appointed Uthmeier to be the state's Attorney General, replacing Ashley Moody, who had been appointed to the United States Senate.

Uthmeier will face voters for the first time this November.

It appears the grand jury probe wrapped earlier this year, and normally, the grand jury's findings would be made public so that citizens could learn what happened and outline exactly what actions Uthmeier took. The report would also likely include recommendations to avoid similar missteps.

"It's very unusual for these reports to be redacted for that reason," said Miami Herald reporter Alexandra Glorioso, who, along with Lawrence Mower of the Tampa Bay Times, broke the story about Hope Florida. "The cases that we reviewed and the legal opinions that we reviewed on these grand jury presentments really favor releasing these reports

But the report hasn't been released, leaving some to wonder if some of the people named in the report – like Uthmeier – have secretly petitioned the court in Tallahassee to keep the report locked away so that no one can ever see it.

"The attorney general has never answered questions about what exactly was his role in this whole thing," Mower said. "He appears to have been involved from literally the very beginning of the [Medicaid] settlement, and his political committee was obviously the one getting most of that $10 million. So, there are serious questions here. Who was involved? Who did what? What did he do? I think a lot of people want to know. And of course, at this point, this is an election issue and a lot of people think, this should be released in time for that election."

Uthmeier declined a request to be interviewed by CBS News Miami. His opponent in the November election, Democrat Jose Javier Rodriguez, blasted Uthmeier's refusal to directly answer the question.

"First of all, as attorney general, I would focus on tackling costs and tackling corruption," he told CBS Miami's Jim DeFede during an appearance on Facing South Florida. "This attorney general is focused on being part of the corruption and part of the cover-up. And the most he can say is that he is not currently under indictment. I mean, that's not the kind of thing you want to hear from the chief legal officer."

Uthmeier's claim that nobody cares about how $10 million of taxpayer money was used as part of a dark-money campaign to influence an election is itself fairly revealing, Javier Rodriguez said.

She founded the group Lauren's Kids to educate children and adults about preventing sexual abuse. This week, she kicked off her 11th annual walk across Florida, starting in the Florida Keys.

"This is all about awareness," Book told CBS News Miami during a stop in the Keys. "We want people sharing their stories. This is the Raising Our Voices Tour, and we're going to have a special recording studio with us [on the bus] so people can share their stories. They can do so online or come out and share in person."

"We want those voices to be elevated, because in doing so, we know people will pay attention to this issue," she continued. "We don't want survivors to feel invisible. We want them to be heard. We want them to be seen."

Book said this year's walk comes amid renewed attention on the Epstein files, which she says is prompting more survivors to come forward.

"There are elements and forces out there every single day that seek to silence the voices of survivors," she said. "And we want to stop that from happening."

Watch the full edition of Facing South Florida: 

"They've slowed it down for several years already, and it's time to cut bait and fish," Wenski said during an interview on Facing South Florida. "It's time to approve it."

The facility, known as the Miami Center for Mental Health and Recovery, was designed to divert people with mental illnesses from county jail, where they often go without treatment, and instead provide care in a dedicated facility.

Long-promised mental health facility remains unopened

The center was first promised to voters in 2004 as part of the Building Better Communities bond program.

Using bond funds, Miami-Dade County spent more than $50 million renovating a building at 2200 NW 7th Avenue. Two years ago, following a competitive process, a pair of nonprofit organizations were selected to operate the facility and provide treatment.

The seven-story, 181,000-square-foot building includes a crisis stabilization unit, residential treatment, transitional housing, outpatient services and health care. It is also equipped with a courtroom.

Funding for the first two years has already been secured.

Yet for more than a year, the building has sat empty as commissioners have repeatedly delayed final approval.

Wenski said the delay is troubling, criticizing what he described as the county "warehousing" people with mental illnesses in jail instead of providing treatment.

"It will save lives because this will allow people to get the treatment that they really need, treatment that can help stabilize them," he said.

Political delays and competing proposals raise questions

Miami-Dade Commission Chairman Anthony Rodriguez has so far declined to place the item on the full commission agenda, instead routing it through committees.

Last month, the commission's Intergovernmental and Economic Impact Committee deferred the proposal indefinitely. The committee is co-chaired by Vicki Lopez and Natalie Milian Orbis and includes commissioners Danielle Cohen Higgins, Roberto Gonzalez and Rene Garcia.

Some commissioners have raised concerns about long-term funding, questioning whether the center will ultimately save money and how it would be financed beyond the first few years.

But other factors may also be at play.

As previously reported by The Miami Herald and CBS Miami, a for-profit company submitted a proposal last fall to take over the building. The company, Recovery Solutions, formerly part of the GEO Group, proposed a model that would cost more and serve fewer people than the plan developed by Judge Steve Leifman.

Leifman, who has worked on mental health reform for more than two decades, has been the driving force behind the center and Miami-Dade's jail diversion program. He frequently gives tours of the empty building to officials from around the country looking to replicate the model.

Despite national interest, the project has yet to receive final approval in its home county.

Jail cycle highlights urgency for reform

Currently, many people with mental illnesses in Miami-Dade are arrested for low-level offenses such as homelessness or minor drug charges. They often spend weeks or months in jail, are released without adequate treatment, and then quickly cycle back into the system.

The pattern repeats itself so often that Leifman has identified about 1,000 individuals who are repeatedly arrested and jailed.

The five most frequently arrested individuals alone were taken into custody 142 times over the past five years, spending nearly 4,000 combined days in jail.

Advocates say the system is not only inefficient but inhumane.

"This is not just an insane system, it is a cruel one," critics argue.

Wenski said the proposed center would not only reduce costs but also restore dignity and serve what he called "the common good."

"If somebody has a heart attack walking down the street, they call an ambulance and take them to a hospital," Wenski said. "But if you have a mental health crisis, they call the cops and take you to jail, which is not a very efficient way of treating a health crisis."

Watch the full edition of Facing South Florida:

They voted to raise their own taxes to help people with mental illnesses by building a facility that would divert them from the county jail, where they often languished without treatment, and instead sent them to a place where they could get the help they needed.

The measure passed overwhelmingly.

That was more than 23 years ago. 

The center had yet to be opened 

For many years, the project was stalled. But two years ago, the promise made to voters appeared to be on the verge of being kept. The county completed restoration of a building using $50 million of the bond money voters approved in 2004. 

The Miami Center for Mental Health and Recovery, located at 2200 NW 7th Avenue, would be a first-of-its-kind facility that could make a difference in the lives of countless people.

The seven-story, 181,000 square-foot building will include a crisis stabilization unit, residential treatment, transitional housing, outpatient services and health care services. It will even include a courtroom.

In 2024, after a competitive process, two non-profit groups were selected to operate the facility and provide treatment and care.

Numerous local groups and agencies have pledged their support, including the Homeless Trust and Camillus House. Funding for the first two years of the project was secured.

Everything was ready. Everything was set.

And yet, the center is still waiting to be opened.

Judge Steve Leifman, who has been working on mental health issues for more than two decades and has been the driving force behind the center and the jail diversion program, often gives tours of the empty building to government officials from around the country who want to emulate his plan to help those with mental illnesses.

He tells those visitors he hopes to have it open soon.

Soon. It always seems to be just a few months away. And yet, the center at the heart of his plan is still waiting to be opened.

The story of the Miami Center for Mental Health and Recovery reveals just how broken the Miami-Dade County government is.

And while the mayor and the county commission delay, and delay, and delay some more, the center remains closed and the folks who this center was designed to help continue to suffer.

So, what is happening?

Well, last fall, even though the county went through a competitive process two years ago and selected two non-profit groups to run the center, a for-profit company out of Nashville – Recovery Solutions – secretly sent a proposal to Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, saying they wanted to take over the building.

They even hired a big-time lobbying firm, the Southern Group, and lobbyist Oscar Braynon.

After Recovery Solutions and Brayonon went to work behind the scenes at the county commission, the final approval Leifman needed to open the center started getting bogged down in one commission committee after another.

The only reason the public learned about this secret proposal from Recovery Solutions was thanks to reporting by the Miami Herald. 

The mayor never informed Leifman or County Commissioner Raquel Regalado, who was working with Leifman to get the center open, that there was another proposal floating around.

A proposal that would cost the county more money and help fewer people.

"It's pretty disheartening, and it's very disappointing," Leifman told CBS Miami's Jim DeFede. "And it was very unexpected because all of this happened right after we had finished everything, and we were ready to open. And so, if there were true concerns and true issues, they should have been raised years in advance. This went through so much vetting, so much analysis, and everything that we are doing with this building; it's not hypothetical or theoretical. We know exactly who needs to come in the building. We have a list of the individuals. We know who is costing the county so much money. And we know that they're not getting better and they're cycling through crime, homelessness, hospitalization, again and again and again."

Right now, there's a system where people with mental illnesses are arrested for homelessness or minor drug charges. They then sit in jail for weeks or months at a time, before getting released and then re-arrested a short time later.

It is a cycle that happens again and again. It's so bad that Leifman has even been able to identify, by name, 1,000 mentally ill individuals who keep getting arrested, and released, and arrested again.

If you look at just the top five people on that list, in the last five years, those five individuals alone were arrested 142 times and spent nearly 4,000 days in jail. And again, that's not involving serious offenses. The reality is, their crime is being mentally ill.

The center looks to break the cycle 

This is not just an insane system; it is a cruel one.

This center could break that cycle by getting them the specialized treatment that the jail cannot and does not provide. It would also save the county millions of dollars in the process.

In an interview with CBS News Miami for Facing South Florida, Cava admitted that last fall she received the proposal from the for-profit company, Recovery Solutions, and she had one of her department directors meet with representatives from the company. She also admitted speaking to the company's lobbyist, Braynon, about the proposal.

Asked why she kept it a secret and never informed Leifman or Regalado, Cava claimed she did not think the proposal was complete or worth discussing.

"I think you might not realize this, but we get contacted by hundreds of vendors every day for all sorts of things," Cava said. "We provided a courtesy meeting with our director. It was not appropriate to proceed at that time. It wasn't complete, and we already were well underway with the non-profit groups, which had been selected to run the facility." 

Cava said she remains committed to getting the center open. And urged the county commission to move quickly on it.

Whether they do move forward remains to be seen.

It is not clear how many county commissioners were given the secret proposal from Recovery Solutions or if they have been lobbied to slow down the opening so that this for-profit company – or perhaps some other group we don't know about – can come along and take control of this building.

But while the county commission, under the leadership of Chairman Anthony Rodriguez, continues to drag its feet, the building will remain empty. And because of that, there are people across our community with mental illnesses who will continue to suffer. 

Gregory flipped a heavily red Florida House seat blue. But the reason she garnered so much national attention for her victory is that her opponent not only received the endorsement of President Donald Trump, but the president voted for him, because that district includes Mar-a-Lago. 

After her win, she has received congratulatory phone calls from Democrats across the country, including former President Joe Biden.

She explained what drove her to get involved: "I felt that the leadership in Tallahassee and the legislature was not listening to us. I felt they were very distracted on culture war issues and not solving the very real affordability issues that us average Floridians are struggling with, like property insurance and health care and education. And that is the only reason that I'm interested in running, is trying to find solutions to these big, big affordability issues."

Even though she was running in Trump's district, she decided not to make Trump the issue in her campaign. Rather than focus on the most famous resident of her district she said she stayed focused on the 180,000 other people who live there.

"All constituents are equal and I want to serve the greatest number of the greatest good with good policy," she said.

It was a race that few gave her a chance of winning, but Gregory said she decided to run anyway. In a conversation for Facing South Florida, she had this advice for anyone thinking about getting into politics.

"I think you have to do some soul searching, knowing that this will probably be the hardest thing you ever do," she said. "I can't undersell that. It was all-consuming. And then you just believe in yourself. It started with me, my husband, and a couple of friends sitting around a kitchen table being like, `What if we just try? What if you just do it? If we don't like what we're seeing out of the state house, what if we just give it our best shot?' And I think that's the only way the world's ever changed is a small group of people. Who were dedicated and passionate. It's one of my favorite quotes from Margaret Mead. And that's the only thing that's ever changed the world. So, we just, we just did the thing."

"I want to make sure our military has the resources they need when they're trying to keep us safe, but I also need to understand what the objectives are, what's the plan for execution, what are they using those resources for?" she told CBS News Miami. 

Appearing on Facing South Florida, Wasserman Schultz said Trump made a mistake by not coming to Congress before the war started. 

"I am someone who said they were really off the mark and off base, not to come to Congress with an authorization for use of military force," she said. "I believe that Iran is the worst terrorist threat and the most dangerous country on the planet. Had I heard a rational explanation, it is quite possible that I would vote for [the use of force.] But they have chaotically executed this war. Gas prices in Florida are nearing $4, and diesel being $5 [per gallon] is economically impactful in a very negative way."

Wasserman Schultz pushed back against the suggestion that the United States was led into this war by Israel and its leader, Benjamin Netanyahu.

"It is so incredibly dangerous to lay this at the feet of the leader of another country," she said. "Israel is the United States' closest ally in the region. We closely coordinate on intelligence and military activity. It is dangerous, particularly for Jews around the world. Any concern or blame for the reason that we launched an attack against Iran lies at the feet of our president. He is making these decisions. The fact that the administration, and our secretary of state and the president tried to blame Israel is outrageous, cowardly and dangerous. Any military action that we take as a country, the president is the commander-in-chief, the blame and the responsibility and the accountability lies at his feet."

And so, where will Marco Rubio be Tuesday morning?

Well, the Secretary of State and National Security Advisor will be in a federal courtroom in downtown Miami, testifying against his longtime friend, former Congressman David Rivera.

A little background

In 2017, Rivera was given a secret, $50 million contract by the US subsidiary of the Venezuelan oil company PDVSA. Supposedly, the contract was to help the company expand business in the United States, but federal prosecutors claim it was really a payoff by Venezuela's government to try to negotiate an end to US sanctions against the country.

And why would Venezuela hire a middling, one-term former congressman with a history of scandal?

Well, one possible answer is that Rivera helped them gain access to Rubio.

Rubio and Rivera have been close friends for decades. They owned a house together in Tallahassee and were roommates when they served in the Florida Legislature. And in terms of gaining access, it worked.

Rivera arranged two meetings with Rubio and others in 2017 to discuss the future of Venezuela.

Ultimately, nothing came of the meetings, but in December 2022, prosecutors charged Rivera with failing to register as a foreign agent and money laundering.

Rivera denies he did anything wrong, and Rubio has never been accused of wrongdoing. After Rivera was indicted and the meetings with Rubio were revealed, Rubio said he did not know about the contract Rivera had with Venezuela.

Rubio to appeal in Miami federal court

In advance of the trial, CBS News Miami spoke to Miami Herald federal courts reporter Jay Weaver about what Rubio is expected to say when he takes the stand.

"Well, I think he's going to have to come clean, and he's going to have to be very straightforward, and he is going to stick to what he told the FBI," Weaver said. "And what he told the FBI, that he did meet with David Rivera, his old friend. He's going to tell them that they met twice in Washington DC in 2017 and they did talk about Venezuela. But what he's going to probably say is, look, we talked about Venezuela, but we talked about an exit strategy. We both wanted Maduro out. We both want to change the regime. And we both wanted him to hold fair, free and fair elections. And clearly, [Maduro] was opposed to it."

They didn't even pass a budget, which is the one thing they are required to do by law. 

Instead, the governor and the legislature pushed more culture wars, passing a new anti-DEI bill and a bill granting DeSantis the ability to target certain individuals and groups as terrorist organizations. Legislators also forced through a measure that will make it harder for some people to vote.

What is Senate Bill 1296?

They also passed what is widely viewed as their latest union-busting bill.

On March 1, Facing South Florida took an in-depth look at Senate Bill 1296, which targeted public sector unions. The bill was sponsored by State Senator Jonathan Martin, a Republican from Fort Myers, and was pushed by the right-wing, billionaire-financed Freedom Foundation. 

During a committee hearing, the Freedom Foundation's Southern Director, Rusty Brown, testified that the foundation does not believe Florida workers should have the right to organize – even though that right is guaranteed in Florida's Constitution.

The Freedom Foundation has never been shy about what its real intention is – which is to eliminate public sector unions. On their website – under a banner that reads "Why We Fight" – they argue that "government unions are a root cause of every growing national dysfunction in America."

SB 1296 was introduced three years after the Freedom Foundation's original union-busting bill, SB 256, passed the Florida Legislature. That bill, signed into law in 2023, made it harder for public sector unions to collect dues, while simultaneously forcing them to show that at least 60 percent of their members were paying their dues. Any union that failed to meet that 60 percent threshold faced a decertification vote.

Following the passage of SB256, the Freedom Foundation went after the state's largest teachers' union, the United Teachers of Dade, and financed a multi-million-dollar campaign to decertify the union and replace it with one that would be more friendly to their interests.

That campaign failed, and the teachers in Miami-Dade voted to keep their union, with 83% voting for UTD, 14% voting for the Freedom Foundation-backed alternative, and 3% voting to have no union at all.

In the three years since SB 256 passed, there have been 209 decertification votes against teacher unions across the state, and in all 209 cases, the teachers voted overwhelmingly to keep their union.

In response to these repeated losses, DeSantis and the Freedom Foundation moved this year to push SB 1296, which rewrites the rules for those union elections. Under the original version of the bill, the union doesn't just have to win a majority of the people who decide to vote – they would now be required to have a majority of every employee in the collective bargaining unit.

Supporters say similar laws are in effect in Wisconsin and Iowa, although the Wisconsin measure was recently ruled unconstitutional.

During a heated and prolonged debate, the bill was watered down slightly on the floor of the Senate. It was amended to require 50% participation in the union election and then a majority of those who voted.

The bill passed, but three Republican senators from Miami – Senators Ana Maria Rodriguez, Alexis Calatayud and Ileana Garcia – defied the governor and voted against the bill because they said it would hurt working people who are already struggling to survive.

Despite the changes, the bill will still make it easier to do away with government unions in Florida – especially teacher unions. The only unions excluded from the new law are the ones representing police and firefighters – the very unions that supported DeSantis and other Republicans.

DeSantis determined to rid state of unions 

Republican lawmakers who spoke to CBS Miami said this bill targeting teacher unions was the governor's highest priority this session.

Andrew Spar, the president of the Florida Education Association, which represents teacher unions across the state, decried the bill's passing.

"I think it's unfortunate that lawmakers in the state of Florida have decided to stand with out-of-state billionaire-backed organizations rather than the people of the state of Florida, the workers of the State of Florida," Spar told CBS Miami. "Every day, workers in this state are struggling to pay their bills, to pay increasing rent costs and housing costs, and now soaring gas prices. And all we ask for is a fair shot at the American dream. It seems like this bill's main goal is to take away the protections that we have at work and our ability, our constitutional right and freedom to come together and advocate through a union and have a contract that protects our families and us."

Critics of the bill argue that the attacks on the teacher unions are part of a broader education strategy that has slowly been unfolding for the past 30 years.

And when you look at those efforts, critics argue, there has been a methodical march toward one goal – privatizing education and eliminating most, if not all, traditional public schools.

It started under Jeb Bush, who launched the first charter schools in the late 1990s, and included so-called opportunity scholarships for poor minority students in failing schools.

But those efforts have now metastasized into what we see today – an explosion of poorly regulated charter schools across the state, coupled with the massive, for-profit businesses that manage those schools.

And then of course there are the vouchers themselves.

In 2003, the spending on various forms of vouchers was approximately $86 million, according to state records.

Today, the state spends more than $4 billion of taxpayer money every year on vouchers, money that is given to families regardless of their economic need, money that now helps subsidize private and even religious schools.

"I would say that the ultimate goal of education policy in Florida is to eliminate public schools," Diane Ravitch, an education historian, said. "Not completely, but to use them as a dumping ground for the kids who are not taking vouchers or going to charters."

Ravitch was the under secretary of education in the George H W Bush Administration. A one-time conservative Republican, she initially supported vouchers and charter schools but now sees them as part of a larger effort to undermine traditional public education. 

"What has happened over the years and as a result of the expansion of charters and now the expansion of vouchers is that it's perfectly obvious that all the things that I hoped would come true didn't come true," she told CBS Miami. "Charters are not better than public schools. Many of them are worse. Many of them open and then close. Florida has the highest rate of charter school closures of any state in the country. I think there are now about 700 to 800 charters in Florida, but 400 charters have opened and closed or got the money to open and never did open. They're fly-by-night, many of them.

"As for vouchers," she continued. "They have been something of a disaster because instead of saving poor kids from failing schools, they're now being offered as a subsidy for the upper middle class and the upper class so that instead of paying $30,000 a year in tuition [for a private school], the state is subsidizing them, giving them $9,000 to help pay for their tuition. It's a huge drain from the public schools because the public schools are losing money that they can ill afford.

She claimed 70% of the kids now receiving vouchers never attended public schools.

"They're going to the kids who are already enrolled in religious and private schools," she said.

Ravitch said the reason DeSantis and others are targeting the teacher unions is that they are often the last line of defense in supporting traditional public schools.

"Teacher unions are the only organized force that fights for public schools," she said. "If they can eliminate teacher unions, if they can cripple the teacher union so that they have no voice, that will help them the next time they want to pass more legislation that is even more harmful to public schools. This is simple politics. They just want to knock out the teacher unions because they fight for public schools."

"My entire adult career, I've always fought for hard-working people, and I feel like now is the time that we need to see proven fighters who are going to fight all of the corporate greed that's coming out of Washington DC," the Jacksonville Democrat told CBS News Miami for Sunday's edition of Facing South Florida.

She is in the Democratic primary against Alex Vindman, the retired lieutenant colonel who was instrumental in causing President Donald Trump's first impeachment. After retiring from the military, Vindman moved to Florida about three years ago.

Nixon said while she honors Vindman's service to the country, she said she has been in the trenches in Florida her entire adult life.

"I am a community organizer," she said. "I led organizing efforts in 2018 to help expand the minimum wage here in our state, and so I know what it takes to build complex coalitions of folks. I know what it takes to motivate and galvanize people who are apathetic; people who have been marginalized and told that they don't matter. And I know that I am the one who can actually win in August as well as win in November."

"I am not a corporate Democrat," she said. "I am a common-sense public servant who puts people over profit, people over politics, and people over party. I know what it's like to have my heat break down in my home and grow up with my mom, and having to open the oven to make sure we have some type of heat in our home. I know what it's like to walk outside and look in my driveway, and my vehicle is gone because my car has gotten repossessed. I understand what it is like to struggle.

"But I also understand what it is like to deserve so much more," she said. "And that is what hard-working Floridians and Americans deserve here in this country. We need to do things a lot differently than what's been happening. And right now, these corrupt billionaires, these greedy corporations, are determining all avenues of our life, all types of policies. And if we start getting more people who come from hard-working families to be our elected officials in Tallahassee as well as in Washington, D.C., we'll see massive amounts of change here in our country."