Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) restored the standard amount of funding for 12 school districts who defied state law and imposed mask mandates during the last school year. The districts were previously ineligible for approximately $200 million across all 12 districts.
Read the full story
More than $3 million has been awarded to military communities in Florida through three grant programs to support economic diversification efforts, local infrastructure projects, and military community relations.
“In Florida, we value those who protect and serve our nation and the sacrifices that their families make,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said. “That is why we work to provide tangible support that enhances the lives and communities of service members for generations to come.”
Read the full story
Eligible Floridians can now apply for mortgage and other assistance through the Florida Hometown Heroes Housing Program in celebration of National Homeownership Month in June.
The program was created to make home ownership affordable for eligible frontline community workers including law enforcement officers, firefighters, educators, health-care professionals, childcare employees, and active military or veterans.
Read the full story
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed two bills and several lines of another as part of what he said is his ongoing commitment to fiscal stewardship.
The bills in question were passed by the legislature during the regular session earlier this year. As the bills are sent to the governor for his consideration, he said he’s been going through them to exercise his line-item veto authority.
Read the full story
The Florida Department of Health (FDOH) urged the state’s board of medicine to establish standards of care in accordance with guidance strongly advising against child sex treatments in a Thursday letter.
Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo pointed to a lack of evidence on the safety and efficacy of the procedures and urged the Florida Board of Medicine to consider FDOH guidance that advised against child sex changes, according to the letter. The move is the latest effort from Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration to restrict sex change treatments, particularly for children.
Read the full story
An influential progressive politician in Florida, State Rep. Anna Eskamani, has endorsed U.S. Rep Charlie Crist in his bid for the Democratic nomination for Florida governor. Crist is in a campaign for the nomination with Florida’s current Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried and Florida State Senator Annette Taddeo.
“At Team Anna, we’re ‘working for you, and fighting for us’ — and that’s exactly who Charlie Crist is and what he does,” said Eskamani.
Eskamani, who represents House District 47 which includes part of Orlando, also noted that Crist “has gone toe-to-toe w/some of the most powerful companies in FL & joined us in opposing the anti-rooftop solar bill this past legislative session too. He’s committed to criminal legal reform, abortion access, LGBTQ+ rights, public ed, the environment & more!”
Read the full story
The Florida Supreme Court will hear arguments next week in a dispute over a 2011 state law that allows for penalties if city and county officials pass gun regulations. The hearing comes amid a ramped up debate over gun laws due to recent mass shootings in Texas and New York.
The case made it to the Supreme Court when a coalition of local governments and Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried filed notices back in June 2021. The notices were the initial steps in asking the Supreme Court to hear the case and came a month after the 1st District Court of Appeal denied a request to send the case to the Supreme Court.
The efforts to get a Supreme Court hearing came after a Tallahassee-based appeals court upheld the constitutionality of the 2011 law in April, 2021
Since 1987, Florida has barred cities and counties from passing regulations that are stricter than state firearms laws, and the penalties in the 2011 law were designed to strengthen that “preemption.”
The law was challenged by local governments and officials who were urged to take action after the February 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland that killed 17 people. However, attorneys for the local governments indicated in a 2019 court document that the requested actions were not taken up by elected officials due to the potential penalties outlined in the 2011 state law.
The requested actions included such things as requiring procedures or documentation to ensure compliance with background checks and waiting periods for gun purchases and requiring reporting of failed background checks.
Read the full story
Florida Sen. Rick Scott (R) defended his signing of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act back in 2018 in the wake of the school shooting tragedy in Uvalde, Tex. The then-bill raised the firearm purchasing age and established a Red Flag law. Scott defended his actions on the Hugh Hewitt Show, reminding listeners he was governor during the Parkland school shooting tragedy.
Read the full story
Florida’s Democrat lawmakers are pushing gun control legislation through the Florida legislature. Specifically, they are seeking to expand Florida’s red flag law that currently allows law enforcement officers to seek a court order to confiscate a person’s firearms if they court decides that person is a threat to themselves or others.
Read the full story
In the wake of the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, two people have been arrested in Florida in separate incidents related to mass shooting threats.
In Tampa, officials arrested an 18-year-old Florida man after receiving a tip that he threatened a mass shooting at a school in a social media post. Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said in a press release that Corey Anderson’s social media showed him with a handgun, a rifle and a tactical-style vest along with a caption that said, “Hey Siri, directions to the nearest school.”
Anderson was arrested on Sunday, May 29th, and charged with a written or electronic threat to conduct a mass shooting or act of terrorism.
“This type of threat is unacceptable. This man intentionally instilled fear into our community as a sick joke, but be warned, this is no laughing matter,” Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said in a statement on Facebook.
In a similar incident, a 10-year-old Florida fifth grade student has been arrested in Lee County after making a school threat. Investigators learned of the threats made by the boy on Saturday and arrested him, said Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno.
Read the full story
Public universities in Florida are allowing students to add their preferred pronouns to various forms of university identification.
In Fall 2021, for example, USF student newspaper The Oracle reported on the school’s plan to begin allowing students, faculty, and staff to add preferred pronouns to their USF IDs.
The purpose of these new policies is to make campuses more inclusive and welcoming, University of South Florida [USF] Student Government (SG) Lt. Governor Kiara Brooks told Campus Reform.
Read the full story
Within days of the special legislative session starting this week, both chambers passed bills to reform property insurance and to increase condominium safety.
Lawmakers passed two bills, Senate Bill 2D, Property Insurance, and Senate Bill 4D, Building Safety. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed them both Thursday.
Read the full story
A bill to ensure condominium safety passed both chambers of the legislature and was signed Thursday by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Within days of the special legislative session starting this week, both chambers passed bills to reform property insurance and increase safety measures for condominiums. Both bills, Senate Bill 2D, Property Insurance, and Senate Bill 4D, Building Safety, were sponsored by state Sen. Jim Boyd, R-Bradenton, who chairs the Senate Committee on Banking and Insurance.
Read the full story
Amid a debate by elected leaders on how to respond to the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Florida Senator Rick Scott (R-Fla.) has indicated he would support a federal “red flag” law.
Axios reported that Scott said he was “OK with supporting a federal red flag law but added that generally such laws should be up to the states.”
Scott supported “red flag” legislation in Florida in the wake of the Parkland shooting which resulted in the death of 17 students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School when he signed the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act into law in 2018.
Read the full story
In the wake of the tragic shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Tex. earlier this week, Florida politicians are reacting to the tragedy and offering their solutions to the issue of school shootings. Markedly, Florida’s Democrat and Republican politicians had very different approaches to solving the crisis.
Read the full story
Florida Democrat House member Anna Eskamani was quick to politicize the mass shooting that took place at Robb Elementary school in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday where reports indicate that 19 students and two teachers were killed in the shooting.
Eskamani tweeted out at 4:34 p.m. on Tuesday, “All these ‘pro-life’ politicians don’t seem to give a damn about our kids being shot in their own schools.”
Read the full story
Florida’s Republican lawmakers have not ruled out the possibility of a total and complete abortion ban if the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) overturns the landmark Roe v. Wade case and abortion law is returned back to the states.
In a report covered by POLITICO, Republican leaders have not indicated their outright support for such legislation, but they said they will follow the lead of the Republican Party as the legislature proceeds.
Read the full story
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) announced this week there is “no way” he would be supporting the World Health Organization’s (WHO) global pandemic treaty. The treaty began making waves online after news began to spread of the WHO’s annual meeting that started on Monday. The WHO is currently considering amendments from President Joe Biden’s administration to authorize the WHO to have control over when an international health emergency is declared, essentially nullifying American sovereignty over health crises.
Read the full story
Florida citrus growers are pushing back against a tax they’ve been paying to fund research they argue hasn’t, and doesn’t, benefit them. Over many years and $180 million later, research to reduce or eradicate citrus greening has done neither, they argue.
In November 1991, Florida Citrus Growers voted to enact a Citrus Research Order that imposed a tax on every box of citrus produced, except for limes, to fund the Citrus Research and Development Foundation. The proceeds of the tax, now 3 cents a box, known as the “box tax,” was created to support CRDF research “that would benefit all growers,” the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) says.
Read the full story
An explosive leaked email obtained by Consumers’ Research reveals State Farm is urging its Florida insurance agents to donate radical books that indoctrinate children as young as age five in gender ideology.
The redacted email memo, dated January 18 and sent from Jose Soto, State Farm Corporate Responsibility Analyst, specifically requests local State Farm agents to receive books, titled A Kids Book About Being Transgender and A Kids Book About Being Non-Binary, from the GenderCool Project, and donate them to classrooms, community centers, and libraries to enable kindergarteners to have access to these books.
Read the full story
Last week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed HB 95 which cracks down on the penalties for the sale and distribution of opioids in Florida, which includes fentanyl. The signing comes as DeSantis has worked with the Florida Legislature to pass numerous pieces of legislation to fight the influx of illegal immigrants, and often times, illegal drug traffickers into Florida.
In the announcement, DeSantis swiped at the President Joe Biden (D) administration for their lack of action regarding the influx of illegal immigrants on the southern border.
Read the full story
Three Florida residents were sentenced to federal prison for their role in a fraud scheme involving baby formula and other items, according to a release from the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Johnny Grobman, Raoul Doekhie, and Sherida Nabi were given an 18-month prison sentence for cheating manufacturers out of at least $100 million.
Read the full story
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law that increases penalties for those who illegally sell and distribute opioids in Florida. It expands on a statewide strategy launched in 2019 to combat the opioid epidemic through education, treatment, prevention, recovery and law enforcement efforts.
“Floridians of all walks of life have witnessed the destruction caused by the opioid epidemic across our state,” DeSantis said. “While the Biden administration has failed to stop the flow of dangerous drugs, including fentanyl, across our southern border, we are taking action in Florida to lower both the demand and the supply of illicit and illegal drugs.”
Read the full story
Okaloosa County received $3.2 million to expand operations at the Shoal River Ranch industrial gigasite, a massive 10,000-acre site near Eglin and Hurlburt Field Air Forces bases.
The funds were made available through the Florida Job Growth Grant Fund and will go toward expanding roads, rail lines, and utility infrastructure in an area located seven miles east of Crestview with access to Interstate 10, Highway 90, and the Florida Gulf & Atlantic Railroad.
Read the full story
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), this week, approved millions of dollars that were debated during the 2022 Legislative Session’s budget conferences. One of the largest recipients of state dollars is cancer research who will be receiving $100 million.
At a press conference on Wednesday, DeSantis made the announcement alongside his wife, First Lady Casey DeSantis, who battled breast cancer.
Read the full story
President Joe Biden (D) announced this week the United States will be loosening restrictions on Marxist countries, namely Cuba and Venezuela. Travel restrictions will be lightened to Cuba and flights will be authorized to Cuban cities outside of Havana and travel will be permitted for educational purposes.
In reaction, Florida Republicans and Democrats have condemned the actions saying that going soft on the dictatorial regimes will only embolden Castro and Maduro.
Read the full story
In the first quarter of 2022, 36 million people visited the Sunshine State, a 39.6% percent increase from the same eriod last year, according to VISIT FLORIDA.
It’s the third consecutive quarter that overall visitation to Florida has surpassed pre-pandemic visitation levels.
Read the full story
Florida Judge Layne Smith lifted a stay on an injunction against his ruling related to Florida’s congressional redistricting case. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and the State of Florida appealed Smith’s original ruling that said the proposed and passed congressional redistricting maps were unconstitutional.
Read the full story
The governor of Florida Monday signed a bill into law that bans Floridians from protesting outside of private residences.
“Sending unruly mobs to private residences, like we have seen with the angry crowds in front of the homes of Supreme Court justices, is inappropriate,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said just before signing HB 1571 into law. “This bill will provide protection to those living in residential communities and I am glad to sign it into law.”
Read the full story
According to AAA-The Auto Club Group, the Florida average price for gasoline reached a new record high of $4.49 per gallon on Sunday.
The latest price beats the previous record of $4.38 per gallon set back in March soon after Russia invaded Ukraine. Before this year, the record high was $4.08 per gallon, which was set back in 2008.
Florida’s average price jumped about 30 cents in the past week. The state average is now $1.60 per gallon more than a year ago. It now costs $67 for a full 15-gallon tank of gas. That’s $24 more than what drivers paid this time last year.
Based on the gasolinemiserindex.com website, Florida consumers are paying $889 more annually on gasoline when compared to spending last year. The is approximately 21% higher than the $735 the average American family is spending this year.
“Drivers are dealing with unprecedented pain at the pump and things could soon get worse before they get better,” said Mark Jenkins, spokesman, AAA – The Auto Club Group. “We saw more big gains in the gasoline futures market late last week, which could trickle down to yet another 10-20 cent jump at the pump in the near future.”
Read the full story
The senatorial race between Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (R) and Congresswoman Val Demings (D-FL-10) is beginning to heat up with each trading jabs. While Demings has not officially received the Democrat nomination, much Democrat support, fundraising, and polling is coalescing around Demings.
Demings recently went on the attack against Rubio calling him an abortion “extremist.”
Read the full story
An analysis by Visit Florida, the state’s tourism-marketing agency, showed that Florida attracted a record number of tourists during the first three months of 2022. The numbers, which were released this past Friday, surpassed totals reported for similar time periods before the COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted the hospitality and leisure industry.
The analysis estimates that 35.982 million people traveled to Florida between the start of January and the end of March. Florida has now recorded four consecutive quarters attracting more than 30 million visitors.
“Our Q1 visitation estimates show that 2022 is shaping up to be another amazing year for Florida tourism,” said Dana Young, VISIT FLORIDA President and CEO. “In addition to breaking more pre-pandemic records domestically, we are seeing an exponential rebound in Orlando as well as our international numbers, which we expect to continue in the months ahead.
Read the full story
After a week of sparring with President Joe Biden and the Biden administration, Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) launched a new ad that highlights his plan for the future of America.
“How do you destroy the economy?” Scott asks rhetorically in the ad. “Look around. Joe Biden and the ‘woke Democrats are doing it.”
Read the full story
Congressional maps proposed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and pushed through the Florida Legislature during the 2022 Special Session are set to be blocked by a Florida judge. Leon County Circuit Judge Layne Smith said he would make the order official either Thursday or Friday.
Smith said he would order the construction of new maps since, he said, the DeSantis-proposed maps were discriminatory against black voters in Congressional District 5, in North Florida.
Read the full story
A lawsuit filed be residents of Orange and Osceola counties against Gov. Ron DeSantis in the wake of the Governor’s battle with Disney has been struck down.
Chief United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida Cecilia Maria Altonaga Tuesday issued her order summarily dismissing the lawsuit, which challenged DeSantis after he stripped Reedy Creek, home to Disney’s theme park, of its special status.
Read the full story
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) set a new 2022 gubernatorial campaign fundraising record. During April, DeSantis raised approximately $10.5 million. Around $2.3 million was raised by his reelection campaign and $8.2 million was raised by DeSantis’ political committee, Friends of Ron DeSantis.
In total, DeSantis has raised over $113 million for the election cycle, which is over 10 times the amount of his next closest competitor, Congressman Charlie Crist (D-FL-13).
Read the full story
Earlier this week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed a bill that established November 7 as the “Victims of Communism Day” where Florida will honor the hundreds of millions “who suffered under communist regimes across the world.”
Read the full story
Attorneys representing the State of Florida, particularly Secretary of State Laurel Lee, issued an 18-page document consisting of their arguments against the groups filing suit. Leon County Circuit Judge Layne Smith is scheduled to hear a request for a temporary injunction to block the maps from proceeding.
Much of the focus of the redistricting process has been centered around District 5 currently held by Congressman Al Lawson (D-FL-5). Civil rights groups and Lawson have said that the new map backed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is “infected by racial discrimination” for eliminating a historic minority majority voting district.
Read the full story
Florida’s two likely gubernatorial candidates have had successful months in preparation for the 2022 election. Congressman Charlie Crist (D-FL-13) pulled in another $1 million during the month of April and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) finished second in a hypothetical GOP presidential poll in North Carolina.
Crist issued a press release and indicated the million-dollar month was from contributions from both his campaign and his Friends of Charlie Crist political committee. It is unclear how much money is coming from each entity. However, individual donors who give less than $50 consist of approximately 44,000 of the contributions and the large donations are funneled through the political committee.
Read the full story
Florida is once again at the center of a Twitter war, this time by an Orlando pension fund attempting to slow its purchase after Gov. Ron DeSantis said the state was looking into ways it can potentially “hold accountable” Twitter’s board of directors.
The city of Orlando’s Police Pension Fund filed a class action lawsuit May 6 in an attempt to block or slow the sale of Twitter. It argues Delaware law prevents billionaire Elon Musk from immediately purchasing Twitter because it alleges he’s “an invested stockholder.”
Read the full story
Gov. Ron DeSantis, when suggesting President Joe Biden’s economic policies will “plunge the United States into a recession,” says Florida will be prepared.
At a news conference this week announcing funding for flood control and water management projects in Lee County, he said that while inflation continues to worsen, Florida’s economy is strong, with revenue exceeding expectations.
Read the full story
Former President Donald Trump announced that he is endorsing Kevin Cabrera for the Miami-Dade County Commission in District 6.
Read the full story
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday signed the largest tax relief bill in Florida history, delivering $1.2 billion in savings to Floridians.
DeSantis signed HB 7071 into law, which includes permanent tax relief through a range of sales tax exemptions, corporate income tax credit expansions, and ad valorem tax and exemption provisions. They are expected to generate an additional $190 million in tax savings over two years and $140 million annually thereafter.
Read the full story
A Republican U.S. Congressman from Florida Thursday issued a letter, signed by 170 colleagues, to the head of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) after that executive branch agency announced the formation of a chilling new board aimed at tackling “disinformation.”
“The creation of this Disinformation Governance Board is an alarming attempt by the Biden administration to use the Department as a political tool,” said Rep. Scott Franklin (R-FL-15) of the letter addressed to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. “DHS has no business determining what is and is not disinformation. This ‘Ministry of Truth’ will undermine the public’s confidence in the Department’s mission to protect the homeland and will tarnish its reputation. This is especially concerning as Americans continue to suffer a drug epidemic and have safety concerns with DHS’s failure to properly secure our border.”
Read the full story
Recent data from the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) shows abortions numbers are down in Florida from year-to-year. Records indicate there have been just over 16,500 abortions so far in 2022, and if the trend continues, would be a 38 percent decrease from 2021.
During 2021, there were 79,811 abortions, which was a 6.6 percent increase from 2020. The data also showed that the overwhelming majority of abortions performed were elective which backs up other data points from across the country.
Read the full story
Florida state Representative Jason Shoaf is calling for the removal of a Leon County middle school principal after the principal posted on Facebook that parents are “getting in our way.” Shoaf’s call for action is in response to a media report about comments in a Facebook post by Sarah Hembree, the principal of Elizabeth Cobb middle school, is located in Leon County.
On Tuesday, Tallahassee Reports published a story about the Facebook post by Hembree which stated in part, “Today I say – Parents, Quit pushing for stupid bills and getting in our way…schools are going to do what’s best for your students in spite of you..”
The “Quit pushing for stupid bills” statement appears to be a reference to the Parental Rights in Education bill that was recently signed into law by Governor DeSantis.
Hembree added that teachers “want to decide what they teach in their classroom based on the needs of the students in front of them….I am SO TIRED of being told we don’t know what we are doing or that we are messing with parents’ rights.”
Read the full story
In the wake of the national news that an initial draft of a United States Supreme Court decision had been leaked to the public indicating the high court’s intentions to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade case, Florida officials have both been chanting and jeering the news. Florida’s anti-abortion politicians have said this could be a good indicator, while pro-abortionists are worried this will lead to more restrictive abortion laws.
Read the full story
Democrat operatives are continually showing signs that they feel they cannot win in Florida in the 2022 gubernatorial election observing that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis seems “unstoppable.” A recent report from Politico showed that Democrats in Florida and Washington, D.C. are not feeling confident, the latter determining how many resources will be sent to the Sunshine State to attempt to unseat Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).
Read the full story
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), once again, made a plea for the Florida Legislature to get a constitutional carry bill to his desk. He made the promise to get the policy push done by the time he is no longer governor and even floated the idea of a special session to get it done.
Read the full story
In a question-and-answer article with the Tallahassee Democrat, Florida Congressman Charlie Crist (D-FL-13) said President Joe Biden (D) will go down as “one of the best [presidents] we’ve ever had.” His comments come as he has become the Democrat frontrunner for the 2022 Florida Democrat gubernatorial primary.
Read the full story