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TAMPA, Fla. ¨C Two different paths led Ernest Johnson and Ronnie Reddish down the same road. Just a few weeks from Election Day, the two men met at a park in Tampa, Florida, to talk life, liberty and voting rights as a former felon.¡°How much time did you do?¡± Reddish asked Johnson.Johnson replied, ¡°I did 28 years in prison, and I ain't got no shame in that ¡®cause prison made me a man.¡±Now, it was Reddish¡¯s turn to get personal.¡°My first time, I was 24,¡± he said of his first experience behind bars.Reddish spent more than 15 years of his life in prison.¡°They were all just for thefts and drugs,¡± said Reddish. ¡°It was about making money illegally.¡±He¡¯s been paying for those mistakes every day since he came home.¡°I really, really regret a lot of things that I did,¡± said Reddish. ¡°I¡¯m remorseful. I mean, I sit back, and now 60 years old¡ªI think about it. Why? Why was I so dumb to do something like that?¡±In losing more than a decade of his freedom, Reddish lost something much more precious in the process: his right to vote.Reddish came to meet Johnson, a voting rights advocate, thinking he couldn¡¯t vote. Reddish finished paying all his court fines earlier this year after serving his time, but he was still unsure if his rights were restored.¡°The language the legislation uses is confusing sometimes,¡± said Reddish.Reddish is talking about the language of Amendment 4, a law passed in 2018 by 65% of Florida voters.The amendment gives all former felons the right to vote, except those charged with murder or sexual crimes. However, before someone can vote, all court costs, fines and fees must be paid separately to each county the felon has a case in¡ªan amount usually around ,500 to ,500 per person.Once all fees are paid, a person¡¯s voting rights are automatically restored, but for many, the old systems that were in place are still top of mind.¡°I was under the impression that you had to go to the clemency board, which could take years,¡± said Reddish of how he thought he had to get his voting rights restored.That¡¯s no longer the case, and it¡¯s a common misconception. Amendment 4 abolished the clemency board, which automatically gave voting rights back to some, but officials say having to pay all the fines before voting is disenfranchising so many more than this law could be helping.Florida State Attorneys estimate the pay-to-vote system, as it¡¯s often called, could keep more than 1 million former felons from voting in this upcoming election.¡°The constitution does not say we have to pay a tax to vote,¡± said Johnson.Even if a person has the money to pay, finding out how much one owes is no easy task, especially if someone owes fines multiple counties.¡°None of them have a uniform system to pay off fines and fees,¡± said Johnson. ¡°It¡¯s not that simple.¡±Johnson works with the nonprofit Florida Rights Restoration Coalition. The group is streamlining the process for as many former felons as they can. Every day, Johnson and many others go door to door, offering information, registration documents and helping pay off as many fines as they can.The group has paid off more than million in fines for former felons.This effort is supported by multiple Florida state attorneys who are fighting against the disenfranchisement they say is caused by Amendment 4.¡°It's creating two classes of voters: people who can afford the right to vote and people who can't,¡± said state attorney Andrew Warren, who represents one of the largest districts in Florida. ¡°That's not democratic. It's not American. And in Florida, it should not be acceptable.¡±Warren said there is no uniform implementation of Amendment 4 across the state, and that is keeping people from voting¡ªpeople like Reddish.¡°The confusion we've had is actually chilling people's willingness and ability to go in and register to vote and that's a bad thing for our democracy,¡± said Warren.To help, Warren is encouraging people to try and find out what they owe, but if they can¡¯t figure it out by Election Day, he wants people to know: his office likely won¡¯t take legal action against them for voting.¡°The standards for prosecuting someone for voter fraud is extremely high,¡± said Warren. ¡°We expect that the majority of cases here are going to be people who are simply confused, and they don't know whether they're eligible to vote or not. And, doing so is not a crime in those situations because it's not on the voter to figure out. We're supposed to be making it clear to people what the law is, and what they need to do to be eligible to vote.¡±For Reddish, he didn¡¯t get the answers he needed from the state. He got the truth from Johnson.He is eligible to vote. No clemency needed. Johnson was able to register him on the spot. A moment is giving Reddish his first chance to vote.¡°I¡¯ve never voted in my life, and one thing about it is: my voice will count,¡± said Reddish with a sigh of relief and joy. ¡°For so many years, my voice never counted. My voice will count now.¡±For so many who haven¡¯t finished paying their fines, their voices may be silenced for the 2020 election, but Warren said he will not stop fighting the state to get the fines and fees requirement removed from Amendment 4.Until that happens, it will take more afternoon meetings at the park and more door knocking to give a voice to those picking up the pieces from a broken past.¡°Just because you¡¯re a convicted felon doesn¡¯t mean you¡¯re locked out of life,¡± said Reddish. ¡°We¡¯re not third or fourth-class citizens, we¡¯re American citizens.¡±Making sure every citizen has the rights they¡¯ve earned is something Johnson, and now Reddish, are ready to fight for.¡°I want to join the organization,¡± said Reddish.They¡¯re hoping they can bring light to as many as they can in a state where just a few new voters could swing the outcome of the 2020 election.¡°Voting is freedom, is democracy, is liberty,¡± said Johnson.¡°Voting gives you power,¡± said Reddish.If you¡¯d like more information on Amendment 4, click HERE. For help from the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, click HERE. 6043

Tax season ¡ª and tax refunds ¡ª can be a financial lifeline for many Americans. But the season can pose challenges for those who owe money to the IRS.Over 18 million Americans owed taxes in September 2014, according to the most recent data from the IRS. Meanwhile, an estimated 10 million face tax penalties each year, the IRS found.Here are three tips to help you handle your tax debt to lessen penalties and properly resolve your obligation.1. Act now 460

The American Academy of Pediatrics is clarifying their stance on reopening schools this fall, pushing for science-based decisions and calling on Congress to provide necessary federal funding for campuses to reopen safely.The AAP, joining together with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), National Education Association (NEA) and AASA, The School Superintendents Association, said they share the desire to welcome children back to schools this fall, however safety concerns must be considered.¡°Returning to school is important for the healthy development and well-being of children, but we must pursue re-opening in a way that is safe for all students, teachers and staff. Science should drive decision-making on safely reopening schools. Public health agencies must make recommendations based on evidence, not politics,¡± the statement reads.They go on to say a one-size-fits-all approach is not appropriate, given the nature of the pandemic across the country. 975

STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. -- A Michigan police officer is being called a hero after the harrowing rescue of a 3-week-old girl was caught on the officer's dashcam.Just before 11 p.m. Thursday, officers were called to a home in Sterling Heights on a report of an infant not breathing.Officer Cameron Maciejewski was the first to arrive and jumped into action. The officer was met by the family outside the home and took the baby, who was not breathing, into his arms.Officer Maciejewski is seen on video calmly taking the baby in his arms and performs back thrusts in an attempt to clear her airways. After a few seconds, the baby coughs up the obstruction and begins the cry.The baby was then turned over to the Sterling Heights Fire Department and transported to the hospital for evaluation.¡°If it wasn¡¯t for Ofc. Maciejewski¡¯s quick, calm, lifesaving actions, the outcome of this incident could have been tragically different. Not only did the officer save the baby, but the officer did an outstanding job consoling the family,¡± said police in a statement.This story was originally published by staff at WXYZ. 1116

The banana phone is back.A startup that licenses the Nokia phone brand has unveiled a new version of the 8110, a curved mobile phone that was first released in 1996 and featured in "The Matrix."The phone, which is offered in banana yellow and black, will sell for €79 (). It comes loaded with a new version of the game Snake, Finnish startup HMD said in a statement."This is a return to the glory years of Nokia," said Ian Fogg, senior analyst at IHS Markit. "But it also includes all the new technology."The 8110 comes with 4G, and a handful of apps including Google Maps, Facebook and Twitter. But it doesn't have a flashy operating system and users won't be able to download other popular apps.Fogg said that basic -- or "feature" -- phones are appealing because they are reliable, and can run for a long time on a single charge. The 8110 goes 25 days in standby mode, for example.Nokia used to be the world's largest maker of mobile phones, but it struggled to adapt to the era of smartphones and compete with the likes of Apple and Samsung.Microsoft purchased the company's handset business in 2013, but later unwound the deal. Nokia now focuses on making technology for telecommunications networks.HMD, which has licensed the Nokia brand since 2016, sold over 70 million handsets in 2017, according to IHS. That puts its sales, on an annualized basis, in the same league as Sony and Lenovo."HMD's strategy clearly aims to return Nokia to be a mobile market leader, even if it's too early for HMD to realistically target displacing Samsung or Apple," Fogg said.Nokia marketed the original 8110 as "the first of its kind in terms of its ergonomics." Its battery lasted up to six days, and it was able to store 16 ring tones and up to 324 names and numbers."It feels good in the hand and fits into any pocket. The revolutionary curved design fits the natural shape of your face," the company said in a press release at the time.  1948

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