The University of Central Florida is dealing with the fallout over misspending of more than $38 million in state money. The money was used to pay for construction of Trevor Colbourn Hall, which replaced an aging academic building. Bill Merck, the University’s former chief financial officer who lost his job over the incident, says the rules around how that state money could be spent were not clear.
On this episode of Intersection, we speak to Merck about how and why the university went about paying for Colbourn Hall- and what comes next. We're also joined by Merck's attorney, Chuck Greene, and 90.7's Abe Aboraya, who's been following the story about the misspent money.
Florida is suffering a teacher shortage. The Florida Education Association says part of the solution is funding the state’s public education system adequately. Fedrick Ingram, the president of Florida’s largest teachers’ union, joins us to explain what the state needs to do to hire and retain more teachers.
And Orlando consistently makes the list of the country’s most dangerous places to walk and ride a bike. We’ll hear from the city’s top transportation planner, Billy Hattaway, about what’s being done to change that.