Category: Florida

Florida Governor DeSantis Campaign Finance Report Shows over $4.5 Million Raised in November

Casey Owens

As campaign finance reports for November were filed by 2022 gubernatorial candidates and officially released by the Florida Division of Elections on Friday, Governor Ron DeSantis’ campaign finance report showed that his political committee, Friends of Ron DeSantis, raised $4,593,936.

DeSantis, who had been fundraising for his campaign well before his official campaign announcement, now has $67 million in cash on hand from a variety of contributors who donated from as low as $1, to as high as $500,000 in November.

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Charlie Crist Campaign Releases Finance Report for November

Casey Owens

Campaign fundraising for U.S. Representative and Democratic candidate in Florida’s 2022 gubernatorial race, Charlie Crist, has amassed $5 million raised since his campaign announcement in early May.

Crist’s campaign, and political committee, Friends of Charlie Crist, announced Wednesday that there was more than $607,000 raised in the month of November, which ultimately led to the $5 million fundraising landmark.

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AAA Says Florida Gas Prices Could Drop Below $3 in the Coming Weeks

Casey Owens

Motorists in Florida could see gas prices return to under $3 a gallon in the coming weeks, as officials from the American Automobile Association (AAA) say concerns over the surge of the COVID-19 Omicron variant will likely halt demand for fuel.

According to AAA, the price at the pump has continued to drop after reaching its 2021 peak four weeks ago in November, where the average price per gallon was almost $4. In the weeks since, the average price per gallon dropped 21%.

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Florida Gov. DeSantis Announces Statewide Flooding Infrastructure, Derides Left-Wing Environmental Ideology

Grant Holcomb

At a press conference in Oldsmar, Fla., Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) announced a statewide flooding resiliency plan and is asking lawmakers for millions of dollars of environmental spending. In total, DeSantis is seeking $276 million in proposed funding for 76 state projects within the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) as part of the 2022 Florida budget.

DeSantis said that Florida is a state with flooding issues, and he’s just addressing the need for environmental infrastructure without “a bunch of left-wing things.”

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Law Professor John Eastman on Steve Bannon’s War Room Explains Why Pelosi’s January 6 Select Committee is Not Legitimate

Julie Carr

  Stephen K. Bannon welcomed Conservative attorney, legal scholar, and professor of law John Eastman on Monday’s War Room: Pandemic to explain his attorney’s letter to Congress citing the illegitimacy of his subpoena regarding the January 6 committee hearings. Bannon: I’m going to start with John Eastman. God do I love this guy. John Eastman, Raheem Kassam, and the great team over at the National pulse have a story. Because I never talk about this stuff because I’m focused on destroying brick by brick this radical regime that is the Biden administration and proud of it. So suck on that Democrats. Embrace the suck. But there is a huge story up here about your lawyer and something destroying the January 6 subpoenas. Can you walk us through here what’s gone on here sir? I’m going to put it up on the screen in Denver and all of our platforms so people can see it in our live chat. John Eastman, the floor is all yours. Eastman: I love that headline. John Eastman’s Lawyers Just Destroyed the January 6 Committee and its Subpoenas. Look, what we discovered looking into this, and I should say that I like you were subpoenaed to…

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Nikki Fried Consultant Wants FBI to Investigate Right Wingers Who Criticized Her on Twitter

Peter D'Abrosca
Evelyn Perez-Verdia and Nikki Fried

A communications consultant for one of Florida’s Democrat candidates for Governor suggested Monday that the Federal Bureau of Investigation should investigate right wingers who criticized her on Twitter. 

“In the last days, after posting the above,I am also getting followed by retired police who follow Breitbart, people who work for the alt-right publication in Spanish The American, and other alt-right people,” Evelyn Perez-Verdia said on Twitter. 

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Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody’s Motion to Block Health-Care Worker Vaccine Mandate Denied

Casey Owens
Ashley Moody

A motion by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody to block a rule by the Biden Administration that would require health-care workers to receive the COVID-19 vaccine was denied Sunday by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. 

In a three-judge panel, it was voted two to one in denying Moody’s proposed injunction, as the two judges who voted against it – Judges Robin Rosenbaum and Jill Pryor – expressed that the state “failed to make the requisite showing for an injunction pending appeal.” Judge Barbara Lagoa was the judge who supported the state’s appeal. 

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After 23 Years, a New Proposal Calls for Partisan School Board Elections

Casey Owens

 After 23 years since legislation from 1998 shifted Florida school boards to be nonpartisan, Florida Senator Joe Gruters on Tuesday proposed a bill to reverse course and make school board elections partisan again.

Gruters, a Republican from Sarasota, filed the bill SJR 244, which was approved by the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee and is awaiting further review.

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Florida Atlantic University Researchers Say Florida’s Republican and Democrat Voters Nearly Agree on Climate Change

Grant Holcomb
"There's no planet B" sign

Research from Florida Atlantic University suggests that Florida’s Republican and Democrat voters nearly agree on the existence of climate change but differ on the cause. According to the researchers, approximately nine out of 10 Florida Republicans believe climate change exists. Approximately 96 percent of Florida Democrat voters agree.

Regarding the cause of climate change, half of Florida Republicans believe it is a man-made issue, while nearly 75 percent of Florida Democrat voters would concur.

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Governor DeSantis Proposes $100 Million for Military Budget and the Florida State Guard

Casey Owens
Gov. Ron DeSantis giving a speech

Florida’s military budget could receive more than $100 million in funding as Governor Ron DeSantis announced multiple proposals on Thursday that aim to support Florida’s National Guard, and establish a “civilian volunteer force,” known as the “Florida State Guard.”

According to the Governor’s Office, his proposals would further support the National Guard in giving them extras hands in helping with state-specific emergencies such as natural disasters.

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Florida Court Rules Against FDLE in Firearm Case

Casey Owens
Black revolver with ammo

A three-judge panel in the 1st District Court of Appeal ruled against the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) Wednesday, in a case regarding an individual who was denied the purchase of a firearm by the Department based off an unapproved background check.

The background check in question was issued through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS, which FDLE states denied Leonardo Lynch the purchase of a gun because he had a record of mental incompetency or a court-ordered substance abuse treatment – both of which Lynch denied.

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Florida Department of Education Takes Down Web Page with External Links to LGBTQ Advocacy Groups

Steve Stewart

After The Florida Capital Star sought comment from officials about a web page with hyper-links to LGBTQ advocacy groups on the Florida Department of Education (FDOE) website, the web page was removed.

FDOE officials told The Florida Capital Star that the content on the web page was under review.

The Florida Capital Star also found that at least one Florida school district was using the presence of the resources on the FDOE web page as justification for certain LGBTQ school activities.

When asked to provide the school policies that support advocacy of LGBTQ issues in middle schools, the Leon County School District provided a link to the FDOE web page with the external links  to LGBTQ advocacy groups.

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Florida Democratic Lawmakers File Bills Supporting Abortion Rights

Casey Owens

Months after a Florida House Representative Webster Barnaby (R-Deltona) filed an anti-abortion bill (HB 167) in September, which would ban the procedure after fetal heartbeat, Democrats in the Florida legislature filed identical bills in both the House and Senate that would establish a woman’s right to an abortion.

Representative Ben Diamond of St. Petersburg, and Senator Lori Berman of Lantana, filed HB 709 and SB 1036, respectively, known as “Reproductive Health Care Rights.”

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Florida School Board Association Withdraws from National Association

Grant Holcomb

The Florida School Board Association (FSBA) announced they have withdrawn from their affiliation with the National School Boards Association (NSBA). The announcement comes as 26 state school board associations have either cut ties or distanced themselves from the parent organization.

The impetus for the withdrawal stems from the NSBA’s letter to the federal government asking for intervention at local school board meetings. Attorney General Merrick Garland took the NSBA up on their recommendations and announced they would be launching investigations into parents at school board meetings.

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Supervisor of Elections Claims Third Party Groups Responsible Florida Voter Registration Forgeries

Grant Holcomb

Last week, the Florida Capital Star reported on two Duval County, Florida men being charged and arrested for fraudulently registering dead people to vote. It was revealed that the two men were working as employees for a petition and canvassing company, Grassfire.

Since the story broke, Grassfire has said they hired the two men in June 2021 to work as petitioners, not to register voters.

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Florida Democrats Oppose Biden’s Decision to Remove FARC from Terrorist List

Casey Owens

After the Biden Administration announced its plan to remove a Colombian rebel group known as FARC from the list of foreign terrorist organizations, an outcry of opposition in South Florida and state Democrats soon followed.

Amongst the outcry were some of the state’s top Democratic elected officials, researchers, and activists who also expressed how Biden’s decision failed to take into account the estimated 150,000 Columbian American voters, as well as the other Hispanic or Latino American voters in Florida who experienced the violence in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

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Florida Mom: ‘Gender Ideology Almost Destroyed My Family’

Steve Stewart

January Littlejohn knew there was a problem when she picked up her daughter at Deer Lake Middle School in Tallahassee, Florida one September afternoon last year. Her daughter revealed she was interviewed by school officials about gender preference issues. She was asked by officials about changing her name and also about which restroom she preferred to use.

Littlejohn, who is a mother of three children and a licensed mental health counselor, was shocked. Shocked at the fact that the meeting took place without her knowledge.

She had previously informed school officials about the family situation. Her daughter was experiencing stress about her gender at the height of the pandemic and the family was completely caught by surprise. The family found a counselor and began researching the issue.

And now school officials had intervened between her and her daughter over a very personal issue.

She would later explain in a speech to the Florida Family Policy Council how “gender ideology almost destroyed my family.”

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Police Determine Florida School Did Not Commit Child Abuse by Forcing Disabled Student to Wear a Mask

Admin
Girl with mask on and braids

After an investigation, police have determined that a Florida school tying a mask to a disabled student’s face did not count as child abuse, according to Fox News.

The investigation was initiated after seven-year-old Sofia Bezerra, who has Down syndrome, was found to have a mask tied to her head with a nylon string when she got off the bus after school on October 7th. Her step-father, Jeffrey Steel, said that she had left for school that morning without a mask on since she had received a medical exemption to the school’s mask mandate. Steel said that, as a result of her Down syndrome, his step-daughter has an enlarged tongue and breathes primarily through her mouth, which would make a mask more dangerous for her; when she came home, the mask was wet with her own saliva.

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Florida’s COVID Numbers Continue to Decline, Reports Lowest Daily Cases per Capita in U.S.

Cooper Moran

Florida’s positive coronavirus cases have continued to decline over recent weeks, allowing the state to report the lowest number of cases per capita in the country.

According to data compiled by The New York Times, the state has an average of 1,393 cases per day, as of Friday. The average represents approximately six cases per 100,000.

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Florida U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist Against Bank Account Tracking by IRS

Casey Owens

As the U.S. Senate prepares to discuss legislation that would allow bank account tracking by the IRS, U.S. Representative Charlie Crist called on Senate leadership to exclude it from being wrapped into Biden’s Build Back Better plan.

Crist sent a letter last week to the Oregon Democrat and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, as well as Indiana Republican and Ranking Member of the Senate Mike Crapo, encouraging them to “avoid adding divisive IRS account reporting requirements.”

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Florida Lawmakers Looking to Expand Health Insurance for Children

Grant Holcomb

Florida’s lawmakers are considering expanding state-funded health insurance for children. The idea has gained traction among Republicans and Democrats, and two competing proposals would increase the amount of money beneficiaries can make.

Currently, families making less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level are eligible for the state’s program, KidCare. However, the same families do not qualify for Medicaid.

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Florida Supreme Court Calls for Additional State Appeals Court

Grant Holcomb
Florida Supreme Court Building

The Florida Supreme Court is calling for creating a sixth state appeals court. One of their reasons for making the call is “serious underrepresentation” of appellate judges from Jacksonville.

“The creation of a new district court, like any other significant change in the judicial system, would be accompanied by some degree of internal disruption, but we conclude that any such internal disruption in the district courts associated with the creation of a sixth district court would be short-lived and would be outweighed by the benefit of enhanced public trust and confidence,” said the Florida Supreme Court’s majority opinion shared by Chief Justice Charles Canady and Justices Jorge Labarga, Alan Lawson, Carlos Muniz and John Couriel.

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Florida Men Charged with Falsifying Voter Registration Forms

Grant Holcomb

Two Jacksonville men have been charged with registering dead people to vote. Devin Deangelo King and Jordan Rayeshaun Daniels have both been arrested, and the motive does not appear to be political, but personal financial gain.

“This was a group working with what we call a third-party organization,” said Duval County Supervisor of Elections Mike Hogan. “… We did not see anything political about it. It was, I think, people who were greedy. There’s an incentive there to get as many as you can in.”

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Florida Man Pleads Guilty to Don Gaetz Extortion Effort

Grant Holcomb

A Florida man, Stephen Alford, has plead guilty regarding his involvement in attempting to extort $25 million from Congressman Matt Gaetz’s (R-FL-1) father, former Florida Senate President Don Gaetz.

The latest development is part of a sex trafficking investigation where Stephen Alford attempted to secure a presidential pardon for Matt Gaetz, as Gaetz continues to face questions surrounding his friendship with former Seminole County, Fla. tax collector Joel Greenberg and Gaetz’s involvement into allegations that he had sex with a 17-year-old arranged by Greenberg.

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University of Florida President Supports Testimony by Political Science Professors

Casey Owens

After months of back and forth between University of Florida (UF) and three of its political-science professors who were blocked from participating in a high profile lawsuit against Florida’s new election law, UF President Kent Fuchs approved a report Tuesday that called for that decision to be reversed.

In a separate report sent to an accrediting organization, UF denied that its Board of Trustees or any outside forces influenced their previous decision to prevent professors, Sharon Austin, Michael McDonald and Daniel Smith, from testifying against the law that was approved by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis during the 2021 legislative session that ended in April.

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Republicans Overtake Democrats in Florida Voter Registration

Grant Holcomb

For the first time in the state of Florida’s history, Republicans now outnumber Democrats in official voter registration totals. According to the Florida Department of State’s Division of Elections, there are 5,118,657 registered Republicans and 5,114,039 registered Democrats.

The Florida Capital Star reported as early as September that Democrats weree poised to lose their lead. As recent as 10 years ago, Democrats held a 700,000-voter registration advantage.

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Florida Governor DeSantis Appoints Democrat, Republican to Broward County Commission

Casey Owens

During a press conference in Ft. Lauderdale on Tuesday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced his appointment of Democrat Jared Moskowitz and Republican Torey Alston for two Broward County commission seats.

Moskowitz, the former Director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM), and Alston, the current Chief of Staff for the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), look to replace the seats that were opened due to Dale Holness and Barbara Sharief resigning in order to run for Congress.

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Latest Polls Show DeSantis, Rubio Outperforming Democratic Challengers

Grant Holcomb

In a newest poll from St. Pete Polls, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is outperforming his likely Democratic challengers in a hypothetical head-to-head general election. According to the poll, DeSantis would defeat Congressman Charlie Crist (D-FL-13) 50.6-44.8 percent. DeSantis would also defeat Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried (D) 51.2-42.3 percent.

Surprisingly, in the matchup between DeSantis and Crist, DeSantis outperformed Crist among young voters by carrying 57.5 percent of likely voters aged 18-29. The youngest age bracket saw the most swing in favor for DeSantis.

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Federal Judge Rules Against Sports Betting Agreement with Seminole Tribe

Steve Stewart
Sports Book Betting

Late Monday, U.S District Judge Dabney Friedrich ruled the deal allows online sports betting through the Seminole Tribe violates the federal law that regulates gambling on tribal lands.

Governor DeSantis and the Seminole Tribe of Florida celebrated the approval of the historic Seminole Gaming Compact in August after a 45-day review of the agreement was completed by the U.S. Department of Interior. The agreement included online sports betting that took place off of tribal lands but was processed on tribal property.

“The final approval of this historic gaming compact is a big deal for the State of Florida,” said Governor DeSantis in the release. “This mutually-beneficial agreement will grow our economy, expand tourism and recreation and provide billions in new revenue to benefit Floridians. I again want to thank Seminole Tribe of Florida Chairman Marcellus Osceola Jr., Senate President Wilton Simpson and House Speaker Chris Sprowls for their part in getting this done for our great state.”

However, Friedrich ruled that the deal violates the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, or IGRA. The IGRA requires gambling activity take place on tribal lands. Friedrich wrote that, “over a dozen provisions in IGRA regulate gaming on ‘Indian lands,’ and none regulate gaming in another location.”

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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Announces Proposal for $1 Billion in Gas Tax Relief

Casey Owens
Ron DeSantis proposing that the Florida legislature provide more than $1 billion in gas tax relief to help Florida families save at the pump.

Amid the rising cost people across the country are paying at the pump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced Monday his proposal for $1 billion in gas tax relief, which will be discussed by state lawmakers during the legislative session of 2022.

According to DeSantis Office, if approved, the proposal – or as stated, “gas tax holiday” – would save up to $200 on average per family.

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Investigation Reveals Florida Democrats Used Dark-Money Organization to Support Candidates

Casey Owens

A statewide investigation that made its way into an alleged scheme by Republican state Senator Frank Artile to influence a Miami-Dade County election in 2020, revealed that a dark-money organization was used by Florida Democrats to pay for “sham candidate mailers.”

In an attempt to make gains against a Republican-controlled Florida Senate, Josh Weierbach, the executive director of a progressive group called Florida Watch Inc., had $115,000 on hand leading up to the 2020 election that he wanted to use in support for Senate Democratic candidates, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

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Federal Judge Denies Florida’s Motion on Vaccine Mandates

Steve Stewart

In an 11-page order released on Saturday, U.S District Judge M. Casey Rodgers rejected Florida’s motion to block a Biden administration rule that requires workers at hospitals and other health-care related facilities be vaccinated against COVID.

The decision was is response to a motion filed by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody seeking a preliminary injunction against the federal rule which takes effect Dec. 6.

Moody’s argument contended that the requirement would increase health-care staffing shortages. However, Judge Rodgers concluded that Florida had shown “irreparable harm” to justify an injunction.

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Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody Investigating Meta/Facebook Marketing Practices Related to Minors

Grant Holcomb

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody (R) announced she is launching an investigation against Meta, the company previously known as Facebook before its recent rebrand. Moody is joining seven other attorneys general in launching an investigation into its targeted marketing practices toward children and teenagers.

“We have serious concerns about how social media is impacting the lives of young people in this country, and as a mother, I want to know how Facebook/Meta is targeting youth and what strategies this Big Tech giant is using to entice children and teens to lengthen engagement on its platforms,” Moody said in an official statement. “I am proud to lead these efforts with our partner states to find out if Meta violated any consumer protection laws and put our children at risk.”

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State and Federal Policies Seek to Expand Broadband Access in Florida

Casey Owens

Expanded infrastructure for enhanced broadband internet could be coming to Florida as state lawmakers and the Florida Internet and Television (FIT) addressed new state and federal policies Thursday that aim to provide internet access to more Floridians. 

Following Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act being signed on Monday, which allocated $42.5 billion for broadband with at least $100 million of that going to Florida.

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