This past Friday, in a speech at the National Conference of State Legislatures, Gov. Ron DeSantis said that Republicans have surpassed Democrats in Florida voter registration numbers for the first time in the state’s history.
“Today, and it’ll probably be fully publicized very soon, today for the first time in the history of Florida we’ve now overtaken Democrats,” DeSantis said. “There are more registered Republicans in Florida than Democrats.”
Read the full story
A proposal to dig exploratory oil wells in the Florida Everglades was denied Friday by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).
The DEP’s decision to reject the proposal by Trend Exploration of north Fort Myers, is due to the concerns that oil drilling will negatively affect surrounding water supplies and natural habitats for endangered species such as the Florida panther.
Read the full story
A judge within the Florida Department of Administrative Hearings ruled that the Florida Department of Health (DOH) has the authority to make the rules for public school students regarding quarantines and mask mandates.
Read the full story
The University of Florida has completely backtracked on its policy to prevent three professors from testifying in a state legal challenge. The university originally said the professors’ testimony would be a conflict of interest given the university is funded by state dollars.
Read the full story
A proposal that threatens employment protections for tenured professors is becoming a concern as it circulates throughout Florida’s public universities.
If the proposal is approved, it would make the process of dismissing veteran faculty members easier by establishing a “comprehensive review process” for professors every five years that ultimately puts their employment in the hands of a university provost.
Read the full story
Federal prosecutors are seeking a hefty fine for J.T. Burnette after he was found guilty on five public corruption charges in August. The government issued a memo saying Burnette participated in extortion and bribery for so long and was unremorseful that the sentence should be extended.
Read the full story
The Democratic Governors Association (DGA) will likely not be writing large checks to Florida’s Democratic gubernatorial challengers to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Congressman Charlie Crist (D-FL-13) and Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried (D) are the most likely candidates to face off against DeSantis in a general election.
Read the full story
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis held a rally in Palm Beach earlier this week where he embraced the viral “Let’s Go Brandon” chants and called President Joe Biden the “Brandon Administration.”
Read the full story
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody (R) is seeking an injunction against the federal government and President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate. The mandate would require federal contract workers to be vaccinated against COVID. Moody’s lawyers filed a motion for an injunction in federal court in Tampa.
Read the full story
Florida’s general revenue collections in the month of September were $442.2 million, or 15.7%, more than what economist for the Office of Economic and Demographic Research (EDR) expected in their predictions made at the General Revenue Estimating Conference in August.
The estimated total for general revenue in September was $2.809 billion, while the actual total was $3.251 billion. Additionally, September was the 14th consecutive month that the state of Florida recorded more than what the EDR predicted.
Read the full story
Florida’s Chief Financial Officer, Jimmy Patronis, gave an ultimatum to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Tuesday, demanding the Department of Justice to refund Floridians’ income taxes if they are used to pay out potential settlements to immigrant family members who were separated at the border.
As the $450,000-per-person settlements could amount to almost a billion dollars, Patronis’ proposal calls on the federal government to “not subsidize or incentivize illegal immigration.”
Read the full story
Three University of Florida professors are going to be fighting their employer’s order over testifying in a State of Florida election integrity law challenge. UF previously banned them altogether from testifying but backtracked their position and said they would permit the professors to testify if they remained unpaid.
“Prohibiting professors from giving standard expert testimony, and instead only allowing pro bono testimony, undermines their credibility as expert witnesses and chills their speech,” said the attorneys representing the professors.
Read the full story
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) called a special session over President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate and Florida Democrats are criticizing the effort. DeSantis has, numerous times, worked to ban mask mandates in Florida’s schools and vaccine mandates, and is seeking the Florida Legislature to codify those bans even further.
“I think that we need to be making sure that people are healthy and safe, and that they can go to work and that our economy is booming, and that businesses are able to do what they need to do,” said Florida State Sen. Lauren Book (D-FL-32).
Read the full story
The Seminole Tribe of Florida kicked off their recently approved online sports betting platform in Florida even during legal challenges. The Tribe rolled out the new entertainment option with little press.
The launch of the new platform, which operates through an app downloadable for smart devices, allows users to place bets and wagers on professional sports teams.
Read the full story
Publix, an employee-owned and Florida-based grocery chain, announced an increase in its stock price and noted that year-to-year third quarter numbers show an increase in sales, but a decrease in profit compared to 2020.
The announcement comes almost a month after the company announced in early October a plan to hire 30,000 new employees before the end of the year.
Read the full story
As a result of an undercount in the 2020 census, Florida is projected to lose millions of dollars, and as much as $88 million in Medicaid payments alone. Florida is set to gain a seat in Congress as the population count indicates a substantial enough growth, but the undercounting will not affect congressional seats, just funding.
Read the full story
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (R) is calling for Republicans to break from big business in policy and polities when he spoke at the National Conservatism Conference yesterday. He also penned an op-ed in the Orlando Sentinel saying America’s largest companies have peddled “anti-American ideologies” and “wokeness” which has contributed to America’s growing partisan divide.
Rubio comments from the conference were pared down into another op-ed posted in The American Conservative where he said if conservatives do not fight back using “corporate patriotism,” Rubio said “we would lose America.”
Read the full story
Tallahassee Police Chief Lawrence Revell spoke at a law enforcement retreat in North Carolina hosted by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) and LGBT advocacy groups are calling for Revell to be removed from his post.
The groups are calling the BGEA “one of the nation’s most notorious anti-LGBTQ+ Christian right groups.”
Read the full story
Refusing to ask patrons if they got the COVID-19 shots or to show a negative test in order to eat in, the popular California-based burger chain In-N-Out is taking a stand — and paying for it. But the company may have a new place to call home, if it takes up an offer from the state of Florida.
If the besieged fast-food chain were to leave, it would follow Elon Musk’s recently decamped Tesla in a growing exodus of companies from a Golden State that has lost its luster for many business owners.
Currently, three Bay Area health jurisdictions — San Francisco County, Contra Costa County and the city of Berkeley — are requiring restaurants to screen customers for on-site indoor dining by either showing proof of a negative COVID test or of COVID vaccination status.
Read the full story
The University of Florida (UF) has modified their previous position prohibiting faculty and staff participating in activities in a professional capacity deemed against the interests of, or in conflict with, the state of Florida.
The Ocala Star Banner reported late Sunday that UF would allow three professors to serve as expert witnesses in a case that challenges a new state law restricting voting access if they are not paid and don’t use university time or resources.
Read the full story
A debate about whether Florida lawmakers should change the way public schools fund virtual learning has begun as the result of the COVID-19 pandemic causing virtual school numbers to skyrocket in the past year and a half.
In an interview with the News Service of Florida, Florida House PreK-12 Appropriations Chairman, Randy Fine, expressed the concern Florida education lawmakers are facing.
Read the full story
After Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) called for a special session last week to legislatively oppose President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandates, the date has now been set and Florida’s top Republicans have said they are unified in their message and intent alongside DeSantis.
Florida House Speaker Chris Sprowls (R-FL-65) and Florida Senate President Wilton Simpson (R-FL-10) issued a joint message ahead of the special session set to run from November 15 through November 19.
Read the full story
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) defended Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo after he and State Sen. Tina Polsky had a back-and-forth over mask wearing that garnered much attention across statewide media.
Ladapo initially came under fire for not wearing a mask in a scheduled meeting with Polsky (D-FL-29) who cited her recent breast cancer diagnosis as the basis for her request. Ladapo preferred to not wear a mask and asked if they could meet outside, but Polsky insisted on meeting in her own office.
Read the full story
After months of wondering whether Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody would face any challengers in the 2022 general election, criminal defense lawyer and Democrat, Jim Lewis of Ft. Lauderdale, has emerged to try and take down Moody.
Lewis released a statement slamming Moody for her opposition towards public health mandates amid the pandemic, as well as her position on challenging the results of the 2020 Presidential election.
Read the full story
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced this week he is suing the President Joe Biden administration over a vaccine mandate for federal contractors. The lawsuit says the president does not have the authority to impose such a mandate.
The mandate from Biden says that federal contract workers will have to be fully vaccinated by December 8, 2021, in order to keep their jobs. DeSantis said his administration’s decision to sue the federal government is a kept promise to rein in “federal overreach.”
Read the full story
The Tallahassee City Commission passed a resolution urging the Florida Legislature to protect abortion policy and access to abortion. The resolution was passed with a 3-2 vote with Mayor John Dailey and Commissioners Jeremy Matlow and Jack Porter voting in the affirmative.
Commissioners Curtis Richardson and Dianne Williams-Cox did not support the resolution because they did not feel the city had the authority to request action from lawmakers.
Read the full story
Judge Suzanne Van Wyk found, this week, that the ban on online medical marijuana purchases through third-party sites to be an unadopted rule and ordered the state to “immediately discontinue reliance on its policy … regarding online ordering of medical marijuana through third-party websites.”
Van Wyk is an administrative law judge who presided over the decision to reinstate the online purchases after the state banned the practice.
Read the full story
When asked about former Georgia Bulldog, Herschel Walker, running for U.S. Senate in 2022, Florida Senator Rick Scott was reluctant to express support for Walker or any other candidate for the upcoming cycle of Republican Senate primaries.
Scott, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), stood by their decision to stay out of the upcoming primary even with situations like Walker who has gained a magnitude of support, including an endorsement from former President Donald Trump in March.
Read the full story
The Broward County School District voted to remove their mask mandate for high schools and will go into effect on Monday, November 1. The mandate will be maintained in elementary and middle schools, but high school students will still be encouraged to wear masks.
“I’m proud of the School Board of Broward County for standing firm on keeping mask mandates in place for Broward County Public Schools’ elementary and middle school students, and strongly encouraging high school students to wear masks,” said Broward Teachers Union President Anna Fusco.
Read the full story
After the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE) proposed to ramp up punishment for school boards enforcing mask mandates, the Biden Administration warned them on Monday to “reconsider” their “threatened actions.”
On October 7th, Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran announced his proposal to prevent school boards from receiving federal funding from the Project to Support America’s Families and Educators grant program – or “Project SAFE” – that provides funding to school districts that are financially penalized for implementing CDC guidelines such as mask mandates.
Read the full story
State Sen. Tina Polsky (D-FL-29) recently scheduled a meeting with Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo, where the meeting quickly went south.
It was reported over the weekend that Polsky asked Ladapo and his two legislative aides to leave her office because Ladapo did not want to wear a mask during their conversation. Polsky cited her breast cancer diagnosis as the reasoning for her desire to have all parties masked.
Read the full story
The Florida School Boards Association (FSBA) has issued a letter to the National School Boards Association (NSBA) over their concerns of federal overreach in local school district meetings.
The original letter from the national organization to President Joe Biden said teachers were under “immediate threat” from parents over their vocal opposition to Critical Race Theory (CRT) and mask mandates in public schools and asked federal law enforcement agencies to launch investigations against the parents.
Read the full story
A recent poll by the University of New Hampshire shows the state having Florida Governor Ron DeSantis ahead of former President Donald Trump in approval rating among 2024 GOP primary voters.
While DeSantis shies away from questions regarding his potential presidential campaign, his approval rating being higher than Trump’s in New Hampshire is pivotal given that it is the first state on the Republican primary calendar in 2024.
Read the full story
The Florida state Ethics Commission ruled that the Federal Government’s effort to supplant lost income to the Broward County School Board would not violate state ethics law. However, the decision was split causing much debate. Commission member Don Gaetz, who also previously served as Florida Senate President, wanted to table the question.
Read the full story
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis spent the weekend making the rounds on Fox News programming where he lauded his work as governor and the varying efforts he is pushing. Notably, DeSantis spent time on Tucker Carlson Tonight on Friday where he said President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate is unconstitutional.
Read the full story
Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo was asked to leave a meeting with Florida Senator Tina Polsky, after refusing to wear a mask in her office.
The meeting between Ladapo and Polsky was in request from the surgeon general who met with other senators who will weigh in on his confirmation in the upcoming legislative session.
Read the full story
The Florida Hospital Association (FHA) declared the COVID delta variant surge is over in Florida and daily hospitalization counts are no longer needed for the time. Mary Mayhew, President and CEO of the FHA, said the availability of treatments has helped lessen the impact of the variant and she maintained getting vaccinated is the still the best way to combat COVID.
Read the full story
Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry is term limited in his current post, but he has already begun teasing his future political plans.
“I’m looking forward to the upcoming political season. 2022 & 2023 are coming at us fast,” Curry tweeted. “I’m as rested, rejuvenated & ready to roll as ever. & I’ve been in the middle of some tough campaigns. Elections matter. I am older, wiser, more experienced and have more energy & stamina now than any campaign I’ve been in or apart of. Got into this with purpose many years ago and will see it through.”
Read the full story
An abortion resolution is on the October 28th Tallahassee City Commission agenda after being pulled from the agenda of a previous meeting. The resolution supports abortion rights and is critical of abortion restrictions and pregnancy centers.
The text of the resolution is provided below.
Read the full story
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has called for a special legislative session to resolve the issue of vaccine mandates in Florida. On Twitter, DeSantis said no one should lose their job over a vaccine.
“I am calling the Florida Legislature back for a Special Session to pursue stronger protections for Floridians against federal government mandates,” DeSantis said. “No one should lose their job over a COVID shot.”
Read the full story
A group of Florida’s Supervisors of Elections have signed on to a letter entitled “Our Democracy, Our Priority” where they are asking officials across Florida to ease off of the rhetoric regarding questions of the validity of the 2020 presidential election.
They are asking Floridians to accept the results of the election: that then-President Donald Trump won Florida and President Joe Biden was elected president.
Read the full story
Governor Ron DeSantis announced Friday in a press release that Florida’s job growth in September grew three times faster over the month than the rest of the nation.
According to the press release, overall for the month, Florida gained 84,500 total jobs, including nearly 73,000 private-sector jobs, which marks 17 months of private-sector job growth, increasing by 5.6% over the year.
Read the full story
After COVID-19 vaccination requirements caused the termination of an Orange County Fire Rescue (OCFR) battalion chief on Tuesday, Governor DeSantis released a statement slamming the county and backing Chief Stephen Davis.
DeSantis talked of Davis and first responders in general, then questioned why Orange County would turn their backs on people that have given so much in the past year during the pandemic.
Read the full story
Florida Department of Administrative Hearings Judge Brian Newman cleared a path, refusing to dismiss a challenge by six Florida school districts, challenging the Florida Department of Health’s rule against mask mandates.
The counties included in the challenge are: Miami-Dade, Broward, Orange, Duval, Alachua, and Leon Counties.
Read the full story
The assailant in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. in 2018 plead guilty to all charges related to the tragedy at the school. He plead guilty to 17 counts of first-degree murder and 17 counts of attempted murder.
The assailant is facing life in prison and a jury will determine if he will face the death penalty. The selection for that jury will be begin on Jan. 4, 2022.
Read the full story
On Monday, the Child & Parental Rights Campaign, Inc. filed a lawsuit in the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Florida on behalf of Mr. and Mrs. Littlejohn against the Leon County School Board (LCSB) related to the Board’s gender policy. The defendants also include Superintendent Rocky Hanna and Dr. Kathleen Rodgers.
The suit alleges that the LCSB ignored the Littlejohn’s parental rights relating to their daughter’s gender confusion by concealing from them actions taken by school officials.
Child and Parental Rights Campaign, Inc. (CPR-C) is a non-partisan, non-profit public interest law firm whose mission is to defend parental rights and protect children’s well-being against the impacts of gender identity ideology.
Read the full story
The Florida Board of Governors (BOG) has requested the Florida Legislature to allocate approximately $150 million more to funding three major Florida universities: University of South Florida (USF), University of Florida (UF), and Florida State University (FSU).
The request is a part of the BOG’s total $3.57 billion budget request for all of Florida’s college and universities. If approved by the Florida Legislature, each university would receive $50 million.
Read the full story
Governor DeSantis has suggested to the Biden Administration that Florida ports are open for business amid the global supply chain crisis that has bottlenecked cargo ships in California ports.
At a press conference at Jacksonvilles’ JAXPORT on Tuesday discussing his proposal with Florida seaport executives, Governor DeSantis made it clear that Florida is prepared for increased operation and that he is determined to meet holiday demand.
Read the full story
After almost four years since the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school (MSDHS) in Broward County, the school district reached a $25 million settlement on Monday with the families of 52 people who were killed, injured, or traumatized during the tragic event.
The shooting, which happened in February 2018 when an ex-student open-fired on his former classmates, resulted in 17 people who were injured, and the death of 14 students and three faculty members.
Read the full story
Florida Judge Monica Brasington refused to dismiss a potential class-action lawsuit against the University of Florida which says the school should refund the fees to students who were forced to study from home during the COVID-induced school year.
If it is considered a class action lawsuit, then Anthony Rojas’ lawsuit against the university, would likely affect tens of thousands of students who were forced to study and learn from home when the university shut campus down during the pandemic.
Read the full story