Steve_Gehlbach's Blog

I covered the top story tonight in a nice and quiet subdiviison in Kissimee near the tourist areas off 192.

This car with a dead body found inside had been sitting there for at least a couple days, maybe more. Cops won't confirm, but neighbors say it was in the trunk.

So my question is how many days could a car sit on your street, dead body or not, and not go noticed? In this case, a neighbor eventually called deputies about the abandoned car and they came and found the body inside. It was parked in front of an unoccupied house that's for sale. But on my street, if I saw a car parked there for more than a day, I think I'd have to call cops. what about you?

This is something that a few districts around the country are trying to save money...mostly in rural areas with smaller districts. Now Orange County may at least consider this.

What do you think? Good idea? Bad idea? Would you want your kids home an extra day and going longer hours 4 days a week?

President Clinton will appear for the first time Wednesday night with Barak Obama.

What do you think the back story on this is? Do you think Clinton secretly wants him to lose so Hillary becomes the front-runner for the White House in 2012, and so he doesn't lose his power at the top of the national party?

What do think he'll say? or should say? I bet he sticks with telling voters how great he was and how bad he thinks the GOP was for the last  8 years and doesn't talk up Obama much.

A 21 year old Daytona Beach man was forced inside his house at gunpoint and robbed. But before they could leave, his mom pulls up in the driveway. He told his mom they were his friends so they wouldn't hurt her.

Would you be able to play it cool and try to get the robbers on your side? I don't think I'd want to go inside my house with a robber, even if they had a gun on me. That could have ended very badly. I guess you just do what they say. Would you try to get them on yourside? What if your family showed up in the middle of the robbery? What would you do?

Just watching a little of game 7 tonight and I can't remember a more exciting series in a while. I hope the WS with the Phillys ends up this action packed.

I'll say as a Floridian I'm kinda cheering for the underdog Rays (sorry Keith Landy and all you other Sox fans) but I was kinda glad to see the meltdown in game 5...means I had some more baseball to watch this weekend.

Although I don't get to watch much b-ball during the regular season, I do like the post-season. And I can flip back and forth to the NFL tonight (and FOX 35 News at 10 of course) 

This has to be one of the craziest stories I've covered in my decade in the news business...a dolphin jumped out of the water in New Smyrna Beach and into a boat. It landed on a couple who had to go to the hospital for minor injuries.

You can't make this stuff up...thankfully they're okay and this is one big fish that got away.

I hope you can watch the story here on the site, I can't do it justice here.

But I do have a question for those that fish or spend a lot of time on the water...have you ever seen a dolphin in the wild actually jump out of the water...Seaworld-style? I guess they do.

I've seen/heard the first two presidential debates and VP debate, but it's hard to get any more out of them than just watching a stump speach or press conference. Are they helpful to you? I don't remember any great lines/jabs from either side that would get people fired up. Maybe I'm just waiting/hoping for some more excitement and sparring between the candidates. but I guess for those not paying as close attention to the race, they could help show where each stands on certain issues.

what do you think? good? bad? want more?

how about an Obama/Palin debate...that'de be some good TV

The almost 3 year project to fix the I4 and 408 interchange is almost done. A couple big pieces are already done and the last big parts should be finished soon (just have to deal with I4 shutdowns overnight this week)

Is it better on your daily drive?

The Senate has agreed to a bailout plan that they'll vote on Wednesday. It's similar to the version shot down Monday in the House, but adds some things to sweeten the deal to bring more Republicans on board, especially in the House. It adds a tax cut package(already rejected by House) it also increases the FDIC limits on deposit insurance from 100K to 250K (wish I had that much to put in a bank)

what do you predict will happen? is this better? should they do nothing? something different? is the bailout getting better as we go?

(((BTW, haven't been blogging in a while as I 've been away...but trying to get back in the mix)))

A new warning came out today about BPA...a chemical found in minute amounts in some plastics. I know once major concern is in baby bottles and if you heat up these plastics. As a new parent, this gets my attention, but I use bottles with drop-in liners so I think I'm okay. Does anyone fear this stuff? of is this another case of worring about something that we don't need to? I think a lot of us grew up with plastic bottles and turned out fine.

All Kangaroo gas stations put up signs today that says:

Due to limited gasoline supplies, we ask that our customers limit their gasoline purchases to 10 gallons per transaction. This request will allow us to provide gasoline for all our valued customers during this time of limited supply in the southeastern United States.

This is all in response to Hurricane Ike and the closing of refineries in Texas, and it's only voluntary.

What do you think? Should we be rationing ourselves? Would you limit it to 10 gallons if you had to fill up?

No, I'm not talking about Oprah. I'm talking about Obama's interview with Bill O'Reilly.

This is the first time the candidate has gone on the factor and the interview aired in parts over the last few days.

Did anyone watch? What did you think? Who came out ahead?

I just thought it was good to see a political interview that wasn't all politicalese, or campaign-speak. It showed Obama in a different way then you usually see him on the stump and speaking. and I liked the O'Reilly "no spin" approach that wouldn't let him wander.

Watching the forecast on Ike got me thinking about Andrew back in 1992. I wasn't around Florida then, so read up on the storm and the impact. I don't think it was as defined, or strong as Ike until much later in its track. It was also fairly small and compact, but at a Cat. 4/5 Andrew cut a path about 40 miles wide through South FL. It spared most of Miami and other more dense areas to the north. But seeing that imapct and the damage got me a little scared to think what a similar storm would do if it took a path into a more developed area. I hope everyone takes this storm seriously if it continues tracking toward us by the end of the weekend.

Anyone remember Andrew or live through it? or ride out a Cat. 4 or 5?

Let's hope Ike follows Hanna away from shore and takes a big right turn.

and that threat is named Hanna and Ike.

some of our area is like a sponge full of water that just won't hold another drop. areas on the St. Johns River and its lakes are just now reaching their highest level. parts of  West Volusia County have land locked lakes and basins and can't hold anymore. they're pumping out water to the river to try to keep more homes and the hospital in Orange City from flooding, but another major storm with more rain would be catastrophic. I don't think anyone realizes yet what we could be in for over the next couple weeks if we get a lot more rain from these storms.

and the worst part about it...we can't do anything to stop it. there is no flood control on the St. Johns past the headwaters in Brevard County. and pumping in places like DeBary can't keep up. one expert said it's like using a straw to sip water from the ocean.

let's hope we dodge a bullet like New Orleans did today, or just pray and hope people get out of the way of the rising water.